Provenance

Untraced until sold at Phillips in April 1955 for £12 as a lot including FT797 to Leonard Duke (1889–1971). In his catalogue he recorded that it was a group “which contained a signed & dated Towne of 1783 and 4 pupils’ drawings much inferior to this. I paid £12 for the lot, which contained also drawings by T.Barker, J.Eagles, & W Havell. I got at least £60 for the remaining contents.” Duke sold it on 19 May 1955 to Spink & Son. Spink sold it on 22 June 1959 for £30 and purchased it again on 5 April 1973. It was sold at Christie’s on 27 April 1976, lot 69, and to the present owner at Sotheby’s on 9 November 1995, lot 48, for £650. According to the Spink archive, this work was sold by them on 21 June 1976, in which case presumably they were the purchasers at the Christie’s auction two months earlier.