Provenance

Bequeathed by the artist 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. It descended to Merivale’s granddaughter Janet Louisa Gibbs (née Merivale, d.1909) within a sketchbook containing FT715 to FT732, and thereafter within her family, until it was sold at Christie’s on 12 November 1991, lot 14, for £5,800 to Leger Galleries; Leger sold it to Spink the same day. It was sold again at Sotheby’s on 4 July 2001, lot 187, for £6,200. It was offered for sale at Sotheby’s on 30th November 2000, lot 232, but did not sell, and John Spink offered it for sale in November 2005 for £36,000. In February 2009 Maurice Dear was offering it for sale at £18,750.