Provenance

Bequeathed by Francis Towne in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), on whose death it passed to Towne’s residuary legatee John Herman Merivale (1779–1844) and his successors. Merivale’s granddaughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), both of Oxford, inherited the drawing in May 1915 within a sketchbook containing 689 to 714, much or all of which by 1963 was owned by Mr and Mrs Sutton of New Zealand. On 19 June 1963 they sold seventeen drawings from the book, including this one, to the Fine Art Society (no.7772) for £3,750. This drawing (no.7772/2) was sold for £557 15s. to Joseph Hawksley Elliot of Sheffield (d. ca. 1978). His daughter sold it at Christie’s on 14 March 1978, lot 92, for £2,600 to Leger Galleries. It was sold at Sotheby’s on 14 April 1994, lot 465, for £6,500, whereafter it is untraced.