"RF" FitzRoy [bottom right corner]

Drawing. The left to the centre right of the picture is entirely occupied by the upper portion of a building with a tiled pitched roof with a v-shaped gutter at its right-hand edge. There are scraps of vegetation sprouting from the corner-ridge, below which a pigeon is sitting. Martens' vantage point is probably the balcony of a similar building; directly in front of the line of sight there is an arched opening, the arch resting on timber columns with stepped capitals, above a timber balustrade with curvaceous and slightly carved uprights. The opening reveals a balcony, and on the left a seated human figure in a top hat and fur coat, dozing or reading, near the corner of a plain interior wall. Behind the centre of the arch a semi-internal corridor leads directly away from the viewer to a rectangular doorway at the far end, which gives access to a similar balcony on the far side of the building. The doorway also frames an indistinct vista beyond, in which part of a sailing boat is visible. A small free-standing box or cupboard is placed halfway along the left-hand side of the corridor. The right-hand wall of the corridor is segmented into nine arched openings. To the right of the nearest segment, at the corner, is the outline of an ornate roughly triangular mounting (on which, for example, a streetlight could be hung?). To the right of the second corridor segment, a wall of horizontal timbers facing the viewer is surrounded by the plain wooden balustrade of another balcony full of potted plants. Below the balustrades runs a large horizontal timber, annotated: "grey"; its bottom edge-line annotated: "lamp", and a supporting joist with a shaped end is indicated, annotated: "light brown". The visible top part of the wall of the lower storey is blank. The annotation below the potted plants reads: "flowers". Beyond and above the potted plants, there is a vista containing two sailing boats, their sails not raised, the left-hand one seen side-on, the other head-on; these may be the Beagle and Adventure. In the distance we can see a faint indication of a shoreline backed by a low ridge with jagged hills on the horizon. To the right of this vista, the upper portions of a second building, similarly balconied and balustraded, are outlined, with an indication of joist-ends and diagonally projecting thrust-timbers supporting the balcony. In the right foreground, a lower tiled roof is visible, and another near the right-hand edge of the picture. The annotation in the top right reads: "green pillars & balcony. bright light upon the outer edge of the verandas, pillars rich brown capitals same upon the top rails of balcony and round the door frame -- The other house white faded green balcon very light with the sun paler upon it, brick floor to balcon but of a grey tone and not light the whole of this house" [continuing upside down in the top centre]: "being in shadow. the sea very blue".