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
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)
