This copy of a composition by John Robert Cozens (1752–97) (see figure 1), showing the celebrated view from Greenwich Hill along the river Thames to St Paul’s in the distance, was said by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak to be 'wholly the work of Girtin' (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.205) and although some doubts have been expressed (Lambourne and Hamilton, 1980, p.151) I am happy to accept the attribution. I suspect that any lingering uncertainty stems from the fact that what has been described as a ‘Monro School’ work because of its association with Cozens is actually very different in character so that unlike the large number of copies of Cozens’ compositions that Girtin produced at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) with his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), it is clearly based on a finished studio watercolour rather than an outline drawing, and there is no evidence that Turner was involved in its production either. Certainly, the washes of colour do not resemble those that Turner customarily added to Girtin’s outlines and, indeed, the work also displays little of the subtle and sometimes quite expressive pencil work by which Girtin reimagined his source material and around which his collaborator carefully wove washes of colour. Instead, Girtin has uncharacteritically retained elements of Cozens' manner, but these are balanced with subtle passages such as the view into the distance along the river that at the same time clearly proclaim his authorship. 

There are no fewer than seven versions by Cozens of this composition that are known today, all larger in scale and with minor variations in the disposition of the trees, deer and the cloudscape and given that Girtin has slightly simplified the line of trees in the middle ground and straightened the path across the grassy area to the left it is not possible to say precisely which provided his source. Moreover, although it is likely that the work was indeed painted at Monro’s home as Girtin and Loshak contend, it came from the collection of George Nassau (1756–1823) and was sold in 1824 as by Girtin indicating that it was not a Monro commission (Christie’s, 27 March 1824, lot 308).¹ My suspicion is that like another copy of a late Cozens watercolour, Windsor Castle from Snow Hill (TG1467) that can now also be attributed to Girtin with some confidence, this work was produced in the aftermath of the older artist’s mental collapse when ‘a total deprivation of nervous faculty’ left him ‘incapacitated’ (Farington, Diary, 23 February 1794). It is not inconceivable, therefore, that both the Greenwich scene and the Windsor view were produced to fulfil orders that Cozens was unable himself to execute and given that he was now under the care of Monro in his capacity of physician to Bethlem Hospital, this might explain how Girtin got access to the original watercolours. Certainly, the subject was a highly attractive one for patrons and, as what seems to have been a late addition to his stock of compositions, a likely candidate for a commission left unfulfilled.² The domes of the nearby Greenwich Hospital and the distant St Paul’s, linked by the curving vessel-lined river, might have recalled Cozens’ earlier images of Rome with the river Tiber and St Peter’s forming a similar conjunction, all of which pointed to the flattering conclusion that London was a new and dominant imperial capital based on marine power.

1794 - 1795

Windsor Castle, Viewed from the South West

TG1467