This is a view near Canonteign, from much the same viewpoint as Towne’s drawing of 1772 (FT031). Although it is difficult to be certain on the basis of the image, this appears to be a work of the 1790s or early 1800s. It has a certain fantastic shagginess that one would not expect of a pupil’s imitation, and has Towne’s monogram, a device he used elsewhere (such as FT630, FT636). The branches originating in the bottom-right corner have similarities with Towne’s drawing of that period, for example in the view of Lake Como dated 1800 (FT618) and another landscape from that year (FT622). The early landscape with a resting man (FT028)—which is also surely a scene at Canonteign—deploys much the same Y-shaped branch device in the centre of the picture to enclose the wooded path that travels into the pictorial space at the bottom left, while pointing upwards towards the peak of the rock.

Conceivably this was one of two Canonteign views at Towne’s 1805 exhibition (1 or 2, Canon-teign, Devonshire), but it seems rather unlikely. The late tree studies that Oppé regarded as feeble and were signed with initials (FT637, FT638, and FT639) may also be considered. The early provenance provides some circumstantial support to link this work with the tree study group, as the drawing under discussion first appeared on the market at the Fine Art Society in 1946 shortly after the studies were sold to Squire Gallery, where drawings later sold at the Fine Art Society sometimes first appeared. This drawing is also substantially without a pen outline, as those were, and is signed with initials. Yet it is more substantial than a mere tree study and is recognisably a landscape of Canonteign, of which doubtless Oppé would have been aware. Even so, the possibility remains that this drawing may be double-counted with one of the foliage studies, BP192, BP193, and BP194.