Looking towards Mount Edgcumbe, Plymouth, Devon
Looking towards Mount Edgcumbe, Plymouth, Devon
William Payne (1760-1830)
Looking towards Mount Edgcumbe, Plymouth, Devon
Signed on the boat, lower centre, W. Payne, further signed and inscribed verso in artist's hand on mount backing
Pen and ink and watercolour
20.2 by 26.8 cm., 8 by 10 ½ in.
Provenance:
With Heather Newman, Gloucestershire;
By descent to the present owner
Payne was born in London and in 1778 obtained the post of draughtsman to the Board of Ordnance in the Tower of London. From 1782 he was in Plymouth organising the defence of the dockyard but resigned in 1788 given his growing reputation as an artist.
He repeated this view looking across Plymouth Sound to Mount Edgcumbe on a number of occasions (see David Japes, William Payne - A Plymouth Experience, 1992, no.29, ill.). the oblelisk on Mount Edgcumbe was in 1770 by Timothy Brett, a former Commissioner of the Navy to commemorate his friend George, 3rd Baron of Edgcumbe, but it is barely visible today.