A barge on a canal, Norfolk

John Thirtle, a founder member of the Norwich Society of Artists, trained in London as a frame-maker before returning to Norwich where alongside painting, he made frames and looking-glasses, and worked as a drawing master. Much of his work focusses on Norwich and the surrounding countryside, and river scenes are typical. He produced relatively few watercolours, usually in a restricted pallette of buffs, blues and grey-browns, as in the present drawing. He was influenced by Thomas Girtin (1775-1802), as well as fellow Norfolk artists John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) and John Crome (1768-1821).