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 FT689 to FT714, which by 1961 had descended to Mr and Mrs Sutton of New Zealand and which on 19 June 1963 they sold to the Fine Art Society (no.7772) for £3,750. In 1963 or 1964 the Fine Art Society sold this drawing (no.7772/14) to Anthony Reed for £441. In 1967 it was again on sale at the Fine Art Society (no.8655), where it was bought by Mrs W. Howe for £600. It is thereafter untraced until sold at Christie’s, South Kensington, on 3 July 2007, lot 663, as attributed to Thomas Sunderland, for £1,500 excluding fees to Abbott and Holder, who sold it to the current owner, a private collector.