Provenance

• 1886: the purchaser was recorded by Messrs Dowdeswell, London art dealers, as F. W. Girdlestone, Sunningdale, Berkshire.

It is not certain who purchased the painting. 1

One possibility is Frederick ('Duck') Kennedy Wilson Girdlestone (1844-1922), who graduated from Oxford in 1867 (MA 1873) and was a barrister (called to the Bar in 1885); he became a teacher, mayor and collector. In 1891 he was a schoolmaster on the Parish of Godalming. However, he was not, as far as is known, a master in Sunningdale.

However, the Rev. William Harding Girdlestone was a schoolmaster at Sunningdale School, Berkshire. He was born in 1821 and died in January 1897. He married Emily Bradfield (1824-1918) and they had six children: Mary (1854-1935), Emily Josephine (1855-1930), Lucy (1858-1940), Theophilus William (1858-1899), Florence (1860-1902) and Ethel Maud (1861-1938). After Rev. Girdlestone's death, his wife and several daughters (Emily, Lucy and Florence) ran the school.

Exhibitions

• 1886: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 35) as 'Opal and grey – Early Dawn'.