Can anyone identify the location?

Leighb

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I have just bought a small watercolour at the market outside the flat. I am sure it is on the East Coast, possibly Colchester? I am hoping someone can recognise the town. There are some distinctive shapes on the skyline, and what looks like the mastIMG_9737.jpeg of a ship which suggests to me that the barges are heading upriver from the quay where ships could dock.
 

Leighb

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The church tower with the spire certainly looks a bit similar, but it is up the hill somewhat in a way that doesn't look quite right for this picture.

Also assuming that there is a ship, could they reach up the river as far as Maldon?
 

tillergirl

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It could be Colchester. There are (arguably) some Colchester features - St Botolph's Priory, the water tower to its right, Marriage's warehouse. But immediately down river of the warehouse there is a bridge that the barge would have punted with their masts down. To get under the bridge it would have low water (as they are unladen) but they would have put their masts up having shot the bridge - hint of a pole for punting. But topsails up already before they have reached the Hythe? The chimneys are not Colchester = perhaps they were in those days.

The colour is very Colchester! Not Maldon though in my view.
 

johnalison

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I'm not very convinced by any of the suggestions, though I have little to offer myself. Is there anywhere south of the river that matches perhaps, or even one of the creeks in London?
 

LONG_KEELER

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I'm not very convinced by any of the suggestions, though I have little to offer myself. Is there anywhere south of the river that matches perhaps, or even one of the creeks in London?
I think you are along the right lines re London/Essex way perhaps. Lots of industrial chimneys. An interesting watch tower.
 

Hydrozoan

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Has the artist combined various views to make the picture?

And on a less extreme basis, how much licence might a painter in this genre and period have exercised with respect (for example) to the relative positions of buildings in the background? Knowing very little about painting, I’m guessing ‘not a lot’ - but it appears to be the assumption here so far.
 

Leighb

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I am sure that artist’s license may have played a part in any composition, but I am hoping that the general view and buildings might make the location identifiable. If not it is still a picture that I am happy to have on my wall.?
 

Hydrozoan

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I am sure that artist’s license may have played a part in any composition, but I am hoping that the general view and buildings might make the location identifiable. If not it is still a picture that I am happy to have on my wall.?

Oh indeed. (I believe Rembrandt painted and then removed a bridge from The Mill, and even Canaletto moved things - just a little - for a better composition.) I meant only that it might require focusing more on individual buildings/features than on their apparent relative positions.
 

Concerto

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Oh indeed. (I believe Rembrandt painted and then removed a bridge from The Mill, and even Canaletto moved things - just a little - for a better composition.) I meant only that it might require focusing more on individual buildings/features than on their apparent relative positions.
Even JWM Turner moved things in his landscape paintings to make them more artistic. For the OP I doubt if he will ever know where, if it even exists, it may be off. So much of the London riverside has either been bombed or demolished since the painting was produced, you would need to be lucky that a photograph tied in with the painting.

Seeing this painting has a modern mount, I doubt if there is any information on the reverse of the painting as many framers transfer any information on to the back of the frame.
 

johnalison

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Wivenhoe?
Wivenhoe church is set back and has a characteristic 'crown' on the tower, and I don't think there has been a house with a 'Dutch' facade. The painting of the tree on the left and the weird perspective of the 'Dutch' house leads me to think that this was not a recognised artist and that there is a lot of fancy involved.
 
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