Commissioned by Captain Henry Hill (1818–82)[1], Brighton, 1875 (accepted unfinished after Royal Academy exhibition)[2]; his collection, Brighton, until 1882; Estate of Henry Hill, 1882–89; Henry Hill estate sale, Christie’s, London, 25 May 1889, no. 129; from where purchased by Agnew's (dealer), London, 1889, stock no. 5284[3]; with Agnew’s, until 1891; from where purchased on the advice of Sir Hubert Herkomer, for the NGV, 1891.
[1] Hill was a major Victorian collector whose collection included Whistler’s Nocturne in Blue and Grey: Valparaiso Bay (1866), now at Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, see biographical details here http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/people/biog/?bid=Hill_H&initial=H. This painting was lent to Brighton Art Loan Exhibition 1875, along with The right of way.
[2] This painting was mistakenly included in Walker’s posthumous sale catalogue, Christie’s, 17 July 1875, but had already been accepted (unfinished) by Hill. See Redford’s Art Sales II, 1888, p. 123, n(a), https://archive.org/stream/artsaleshistoryo02redf#page/122/mode/2up/search/frederick+walker. Reproduced in James Dafforne’s The Works of Frederick Walker, ARA, The Art Journal, 1875, pp. 326–29, illus. p. 32, https://archive.org/details/jstor-20568975
[3] See Agnew’s Picture Stockbook 1885–91, NGA27/1/1/7, pp. 224–25, Thomas Agnew & Sons archive, National Gallery Research Centre, London, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/research-centre/agnews-stock-books/reference-nga27117-1885-91
Exhibited Royal Academy, London, 1875, no. 25; Walker Memorial Exhibition, Deschamps Gallery, London, 1876, no. 39, lent by Captain Hill; Brighton Art Loan Exhibition, Brighton, England, lent by the Estate of Captain Henry Hill; Loan Collection of Oil Paintings and Watercolour Drawings, Second Interchange Exhibition, Adelaide, 1896, no. 3; Subject Pictures, National Gallery of Victoria travelling exhibition, 1954, no. 25; Victorian Social Conscience, Sydney, 1976, no. 64; The First 50 Years: 19th Century British Art from the Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1992; Hidden Treasures, David Jones’ Art Gallery, Sydney, 1992.