This watercolour is known only from a poor-quality photograph in the Witt Library, London, where it is titled Clovelly, Devon? and tentatively attributed to Girtin. The work itself is also poor in quality and less advanced stylistically than the other watercolours dated to 1791 (such as TG0015), the second year of Girtin’s apprenticeship to Edward Dayes (1763–1804). However, the signature and date are consistent with other examples from this period (including TG0014), and it is likely that it is an early copy after the work of another artist as it would not have been possible for the young apprentice to travel to the coast. The obvious candidate as author of Girtin's source material is his master especially now that the subject of the work has been identified not as a view in north Devon but of Hastings looking west along the coast from underneath the cliffs with the castle visible on the horizon. This identification is confirmed by numerous views from this date (see figure 1) including a slightly different composition by Dayes himself (see figure 2). Dayes' view is compressed in its proportions and Girtin either opened out the composition to include a greater extent of the beach, or more probably based his work on an untraced sketch by Dayes that was taken from a slightly different angle and it may well have been the same source that the artist was to return to a few years later in a pencil sketch (TG0314). So, even though there are few obvious or evident stylistic debts to Dayes, the attribution to Girtin looks increasingly secure, not least as there is no logical reason to add a convincing signature to an obviously immature early work.
Much the same might be said about a work titled Figures in a Landscape, which was said to be signed ‘T. Girtin 1790’ on the back. The watercolour appeared in an online auction, but it was apparently not illustrated and it has not been possible to confirm the attribution to Girtin (sold at Sloan’s, 20 July 2002).
1791
Rochester, from the River Medway
TG0015
1790
London: Interior of St Stephen Walbrook, Looking East
TG0014
1793 - 1794
Hastings: The View from East Hill Looking towards the Castle and West Hill
TG0314
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