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Works (?) Thomas Girtin and (?) Joseph Mallord William Turner after (?) John Henderson

Warehouses with Shipping in Dover Harbour

1795 - 1796

Primary Image: TG0814: (?) Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and (?) Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), after (?) John Henderson (1764–1843), Warehouses with Shipping in Dover Harbour, 1795–96, graphite and watercolour on wove paper, 21 × 26 cm, 8 ¼ × 10 ¼ in. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachussets. Gift of the children of Mrs. Thomas W. Lamont (Florence Haskell Corliss, class of 1893) (SC 1953.24).

Photo courtesy of Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachussets, Gift of the children of Mrs. Thomas W. Lamont Florence Haskell Corliss, class of 1893 (SC 1953.24) (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
(?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and (?) Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Henderson (1764-1843)
Title
  • Warehouses with Shipping in Dover Harbour
Date
1795 - 1796
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
Dimensions
21 × 26 cm, 8 ¼ × 10 ¼ in
Object Type
Collaborations; Monro School Copy; Work after an Amateur Artist
Subject Terms
Coasts and Shipping; Dover and Kent

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0814
Description Source(s)
Museum Website as 'Dover Harbor' by Joseph Mallord William Turner

Provenance

Palser Gallery, London; Florence Lamont (Mrs Thomas W. Lamont, née Corliss); presented by her children to the Museum, 1953

Exhibition History

Palser Gallery, 1932b, no.77 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner; Boston, 1934 (catalogue untraced); Memphis, 1979, no.7

Bibliography

Wilton, 1984a, p.22 as 'Dover Harbour by (?) Edward Dayes'

About this Work

This view of warehouses and shipping in Dover harbour is currently attributed to Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), but, given its subject matter, it appears to be a strong candidate for identification as one of the hundred or so Dover views that were sold from the collection of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) at his posthumous sale in 1833, many of which have subsequently been shown to be collaborations between Turner and Girtin. Similar Dover views, such as Dover Harbour: The Stern of a Large Ship, and Smaller Vessels (TG1473), were copied from drawings by the amateur artist John Henderson (1764–1843), who lent Monro his ‘outlines of Shipping & Boats’, described by the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) as ‘Very ingenious & careful’, ‘for this purpose’ (Farington, Diary, 1 December 1795; Farington, Diary, 30 December 1794). This supposition is backed up by the existence of an amateurish, though careful and faithful, copy, which came from Henderson’s collection and which was presumably also painted by him (see comparative image TG0814). In other words, it seems likely that Henderson was the source for the Monro School watercolour and, having access to the work, had the means to copy it.

Dover Inner Harbour

It does not automatically follow from this that the Monro School copy was authored by Girtin and Turner, however. In the first instance, there is no clearly evident pencil work against which to test Girtin’s contribution to what, in the case of the marine views of Dover and its shipping, was always a significant part of the production process. Additionally, there is the colouring of the work, which, as Andrew Wilton has pointed out, is much closer to the practice of Edward Dayes (1763–1804), Girtin’s master, than to the sparing washes of blue and grey that Turner weaved amongst Girtin’s pencil work in characteristic Monro School subjects such as Vessels Anchored in Dover Harbour, with the Castle Beyond (TG0813) (Wilton, 1984a, pp.21–22). Indeed, as Wilton also notes, it is not impossible that some of the Dover subjects were in fact developed from ‘originals’ by Dayes, and he almost certainly provided the young Girtin with the basis for watercolours such as The Dover Mail (TG0075). Girtin and Turner were certainly heavily influenced by Dayes’ manner of colouring, but this was arguably at an earlier time than the date of 1795–96 I have adopted for the Monro School Henderson subjects, and on balance I am inclined, like Wilton, to attribute this work and another very Dayesian watercolour, Dover Harbour (see figure 1), to Girtin’s master. It follows from this, therefore, that Henderson’s watercolour (see figure 1) was probably copied from a Dayes composition rather than being based on one of his own outlines made on the spot in Dover.

1795 - 1796

Dover Harbour: The Stern of a Large Ship, and Smaller Vessels

TG1473

1795 - 1796

Warehouses with Shipping in Dover Harbour

TG0814

1795 - 1796

Vessels Anchored in Dover Harbour, with the Castle Beyond

TG0813

1791 - 1792

The Dover Mail, Dover Castle in the Distance

TG0075

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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