Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. | Thomas Girtin

Probably Dr. Thomas Monro (1759-1833),

probably his executor's sale, London, 28 June 1833, unknown lot number;

The Earls of Warwick (L.2600), probably George, 4^th Earl of Warwick (1818-1893),

by descent until circa 1920;

with Leger Galleries, London, by 1995,

where acquired by Diane A. Nixon

G. Smith, Thomas Girtin (1775-1802): An Online Catalogue, Archive and Introduction to the Artist, no. TG0807 (as a collaborative work)  

This watercolor, which dates to the middle of the 1790s, depicts Borrowdale in the Lake District, a place of rugged and remote beauty that was propelled to prominence by devotees of the picturesque movement and would prove inspirational to the likes of William Wordsworth.

The precise view seen here is taken from near the village of Rosthwaite, looking south-east into the Stonethwaite Valley, with the hills of High Knott and Eagle Crag seen in the distance. Almost certainly painted at the London home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759-1833), 8 Adelphi Terrace, the work is likely to derive from a, now lost, drawing by Edward Dayes (1763-1804), Thomas Girtin's former master, who had made a tour of the Lake District in 1789.

Between 1794 and 1797, on winter evenings, Dr Monro famously opened his doors to young artists, giving them supper, providing them with a place to meet and socialize as well as permitting them to make copies from his extensive collections. Up and coming painters would work by candlelight at double-sided drawing desks and by December 1794 the Royal Academician and diarist Joseph Farington (1747-1821) was describing the house as being ‘like an Academy.’¹

Amongst the regular attendees were Joseph Mallord William Turner and Thomas Girtin. Exact contemporaries and firm friends they, according to Farington, would often work together with Girtin drawing in ‘the outlines’ and Turner ‘washing in the effects’.² The present drawing is a fine example of this collaborative work and is one of a small group of views of Borrowdale that the pair created at this time.³

Although not certain, this watercolor’s first owner may well have been Dr Monro himself, whose five day posthumous sale at Christie’s in 1833 included many watercolors of this type. Later, the work entered the distinguished collections of the Earls of Warwick, and the sheet is stamped with their collector's mark. The most celebrated collector within that family was the fourth Earl, George Guy Greville (1818-1893).

We are grateful to Professor David Hill, Dr Greg Smith and Ian Warrell for their help when cataloguing this lot.

^1.E. Shanes, Young Mr Turner, The First Forty Years 1775-1815, New Haven and London 2016, pp. 95-96

^2.Shanes, op. cit, p. 96

^3.For other examples see Smith, op. cit., TG0771a and TG0769