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 15, for £12,500 to Leger Galleries; Leger sold it to Spink the same day. It was offered for sale at Sotheby’s on 30 November 2000, lot 231, but did not sell. It was sold again at Sotheby’s on 4 July 2001, lot 186, for £9,200. John Spink offered it for sale in November 2005 for £40,000.