This evening estuary view at high tide is based on a drawing of Powderham (FT043) inscribed: “This view of Powderham to be painted in a size four times as large each way by order of Lord Courtenay Oct the 22nd 1774.” The size of the painting no doubt accounts—at least in part—for the length of time it took to paint, and it may be that Courtenay was prompted by the success of the painting to commission further works from Towne. These later commissions show off the same scenery and far-reaching views, which had such appeal for Courtenay. It is likely that such a large painting for so eminent a local patron would have attracted interest from other landowners, anxious to emulate Lord Courtenay, and this may help account for the number of works Towne made in the years immediately preceding his visit to Italy. 

Stylistically, the picture captures an interesting point in Towne’s development as an oil painter, between his Wilsonesque Exeter view of 1773 (FT019) and paintings of 1780 such as the view of the Teign (FT156). Compositional conventions that were expected in a country house view, such as the large foreground tree and rustic figures, are present, but subdued; the bank of ground on which the figures stand does not even run the entire width of the picture, and the framing tree at the right is only partially visible. The feeling for light so evident in the Teign work is clear here also, especially in the warmth with which the trees and land at the far right are treated. In the Powderham work the trees show signs of Towne’s later modelling of trees as spherical casings, rather than as complex branch structures.

Although it was consigned to Christie’s on 26 February 1816 by Towne himself, the painting was initially judged there to be by George Lambert.