Cotmania. Vol. XI. 1935-6

DEPARTMENT OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS,
BRITISH MUSEUM,
LONDON : W.C.1.

My dear Mr. Kitson; please forgive my not having written before, but I was waiting till I had got your photographs ready for you, which I hope you will find satisfactory. With regard to the supposed inscription on the 'Backwater in a Park', I have had the drawing lifted and there is certainly no inscription on the back, of any kind. In Reeve's catalogue of his collection I find he describes it as 'Outdoor Sketch "September 1798".' The drawing was exhibited in 1888 at the B.F.A. Club, No. 1.Here again it is described in a similar way, with the added note that 'If the date be correct, this is the earliest coloured drawing in the collection'. In the catalogue of the Norwich Art Circle Exhibition, july, 1888, it is described also in the same way. When the Reeve Collection came here in 1902, Binyon listed the drawings in the Departmental Inventory, and he distinctly adds the note to the 'Backwater' to the effect that it is inscribed on the back 'k...re Backwater Sep... 1798'. One can only conclude that this inscription was on the back of the old mount, and that this was unfortunately lost or destroyed when the drawing was remounted on the