On his way to Wales in 1798 Turner probably visited Stourhead, whose owner, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, had commissioned him to make drawings of Malmesbury. Sketches for these, some inscribed with Hoare's name, appear in the 'Hereford Court sketchbook (T.B. XXXVIlI ff.I-9). This drawing of the medieval cross at Stourton, with Hoare's famous gardens with lake and temple behind, was presumably made at the same time. The garden itself became the subject of some of the elaborate technical experiments Turner began to make about 1798-9 (T.B.XLIV-f and g.).