Menabilly boathouse, near Fowey, Cornwall

Prout was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of a worker from the naval dockyard. He joined sketching expeditions led by a master while at Plymouth Grammar School and aged 18 he met the publisher John Britton in a bookshop who took him on a sketching tour of the West Country. By 1802 he was working for Britton in London but by 1805 ill health forced him to return to Devon. The present watercolour probably dates from early 1808, shortly before his return to London. It is an excellent example of his early style when the influence of his fellow Devonian Francis Towne is evident (also see Christie's, London, 2 July 2019, lot 210).
Menabilly, near Fowey, was leased by Daphne Du Maurier from 1943 until 1969, and served as the inspiration for Manderley in Rebecca. The boathouse, central to that story and depicted here, is still extant.