According to St Clair,
in 1830, when Godwin was 74, he
‘took tea with the painter John Martin
and struck up a remarkable friendship.
Martin invited him to dinner nearly every
week and was to introduce him to most of
the artists of the day including Turner,
Wilkie, and Landseer’.
See, in addition, the manuscript sheets
in Godwin’s hand dated from 23 Sept 1806,
written to a child, recalling their walk in the country.
The diary records him as writing First impressions.
The piece is clearly partly fictional – it refers to walking in the churchyard where they find the
grave of Anne – who is described as having been the child’s senior by a year.
The piece becomes an account of the nature of spirit – or god.
It refers to 'your little brother Henry'. But it also talks
about artists including a reference to Mr Turner, 'with
whom we dined at Mr Nicols the other day.' Although this implies that
Godwin met Turner in or before 1806, there is no plausible instance, and there is also no entry for
Nichols at which a Turner is present, suggesting that this is an entirely fictional device.
There's a W. Turner post-Milton Gallery in 1800 w/
Fuseli, Opie, Northcote, West, Lawrence,
W. Turner, and Bannister, which has been coded as a probable attribution.
