Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
Thomas Girtin, 1775–1802, British
Title:
Estuary on the River Taw, Devon
Date:
ca. 1797
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor over graphite on moderately thick, rough, beige laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 10 5/16 x 17 3/4 inches (26.2 x 45.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.3.1024
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
landscape | river | estuary
Associated Places:
Europe | England | United Kingdom | Devon | Taw
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13)

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30)

Thomas Girtin and the Art of Watercolour (Tate Britain, 2002-07-04 - 2002-09-29)

Thomas Girtin (Yale Center for British Art, 1986-01-21 - 1986-03-30)

Presences of Nature - British Landscape 1780-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-10-20 - 1983-02-27)

English Landscape (Paul Mellon Collection) 1630-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1977-04-19 - 1977-07-17)
Publications:
British Art at Yale, Apollo, vol.105, April 1977, pp. 272, 274, fig. 11, N1 .A54 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Louis Hawes, Presences of Nature : British Landscape, 1780-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1982, pp. 25, 128, no. II.5, pl. 17, ND1354.4 H38 (YCBA)

International Exhibition 1862 : Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Department, Truscott, Son, & Simmons, London, 1862, p. 52, no. 888, Available online at World's Fairs : A Global History of Expositions (Yale Internet Resource)

Leeds Art Gallery, Early English water colours ; October 8-November 23, 1958, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, 1958, p. 22, no. 57, ND1733 .L4 L444 (LC) (YCBA)

Susan Morris, Thomas Girtin, 1775-1802, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1986, pp. 22-3, 46, 75, no. 87, NJ18 .G44 M67 (LC) (YCBA)

Graham Reynolds, English Landscape 1630-1850, Apollo, vol.105, April 1977, pp. 272, 274, fig. 11, N1 A54 105:2 + (YCBA)

Royal Academy of Arts, The Girtin collection : watercolours by Thomas Girtin and other masters : Royal Academy of Arts Diploma Gallery, London, 1962, p. 28, no. 150, ND1928 .G57 1962 (LC) (YCBA)

Christopher White, English landscape, 1630-1850 : drawings, prints & books from the Paul Mellon Collection, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, p. 66, no. 116, pl. XX, NC228 W45 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 95-96, no. 40, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Girtin’s sweeping view along the coast of Devon derives from a tour of England’s West Country in 1797. While Girtin had trained as a topographer, in this instance he has avoided giving a detailed rendering of this stretch of coast, focusing instead on the landscape’s general characteristics and abstract qualities: the variety and contrast between enclosed fields and open spaces; the dark hills and the pale, flat plains; sand and grassland; the open sea and the meandering river. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:5841