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Ian,
I was at the Turner show last weekend and I wondered the same thing as you. Seeing the paintings in the flesh is nothing like seeing them on the web. He captures luminosity One of his water colours looked as luminous as an oil. If IIS members can get to Canberra, make sure you see it.
It could of course, as Andrew suggests, be from his imagination. If it's at full moon and even semi-realistic it can't possibly be Venus so it could be Jupiter Mars or Saturn or a bright star.
Assuming he would prefer to paint out doors in Summer months I did a quick scan of the sky in SNPP for summer full moons 1796-7. Using the painted diameter of the Moon for angular scale and found a possible solution after sunset with Jupiter on 9 Sept 1797 and on Sept 15 1796. It's possible it was painted or at least sketched on one of those dates.
Joe
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