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- context 3: 'This picture' as if it is intended to refer to
the picture that follows; the picture in the possession of Dr. Nixon
In this context it is assumed that Miller, having said that he
doubts the picture in the footnote, continues by stating the
location of "this picture*".
Miller refers to a picture that he thinks is in the possession
of Dr. Nixon (but, unbeknown to Miller the picture that he
describes is not the picture that the Bishop claims is Turner's
first oil). If this context is correct, Miller must have
obtained his information from a third party and must be describing a
picture that Miller believes was in the possession of Rev. Robert
Nixon of Foots Cray and painted by Turner at Foots Cray, after
completing 'View of Rochester' at Rochester. and the Bishop was
wrong to identify 'The Country Waggon, Snowdon - Early Morning' as
Turner's first oil.
This interpretation, provides the most straightforward meaning
of Miller's text; namely that there are two pictures and both claim
to be the first but Nixon's is doubtful because Miller has
recognised that if the paints were bought at Rochester the first
painting would be made there and the next stop (on the journey back
to London) would logically be Foots Cray where the second picture,
started at Rochester (perhaps drawn on the canvas but not painted),
as described in the footnote, was finished.
The problem with this interpretation is that whilst there is
substantial evidence supporting Douglas' picture without fishermen,
boats and gales of wind there is not a scrap of evidence that a
picture resembling that in the footnote was ever in the possession
of Rev. Robert Nixon. That said, it is inconceivable that Robert
would have given or bequeathed his entire collection to
his second son. His eldest son, George, seems to have been
equally deserving. Francis was just an ordinary curate when Robert
died in 1837 and had not yet attained the rank which may have made
Robert treat him more favourably. So there is every possibility that
Robert's collection was divided equally between his two sons. In
this regard it may be said that if Francis had not been elevated to
high office his share of the collection might now be equally
obscure.
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In context 3 it is assumed that Miller believed
that he was describing Dr. Nixon's picture.

If this is the correct reading of Miller's text then the two pictures
painted during the first Kent tour in September 1792 were:
- Turner's first:oil painting:
'View of Rochester' (Later confirmed by the Nephew's Letter as
'Rochester Castle and the Adjacent Ground') for Rev. James Douglas
at Rochester.
- Turner's second oil painting:
'Rochester Castle with Fishermen Drawing Boats Ashore In A Gale
of Wind' for Rev. Robert Nixon at Foots Cray.
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