Francis Danby, A.R.A. (Wexford, Ireland 1793-1861 Exmouth, Devon)

This is the sixth Danby watercolour lent by Sir Thomas Marchant Williams to the Third Loan Exhibition at Bristol Art Gallery in 1906, formerly believed to be lost. A smaller version of the present watercolour, featuring a slightly different arrangement of boats and figures, is in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Greenacre dates the Bristol Museum version to circa 1818. The present version is probably earlier; it has every appearance of dating from around 1815, about two years after the artist arrived in Bristol. The tower in the distance, above St Vincent's Rocks, is the ruin of a windmill that was later converted into an observatory by the Bristol-based artist William 'Waterfall' West. Its camera obscura is functional to this day.