Francis Towne

Signed and dated l.l.: No. 14/F. Towne delt/1777 and inscribed on the reverse of the original mount (attached to backboard): No. 14/A View of the Cataract of the Mothvaye/in Merionethshire North Wales/drawn on the spot by/Francis Towne/1777/London/Leicester Square/June 20th 1777, stamped with collector’s mark, pen and black ink and watercolour heightened with touches of bodycolour and scratching out on five sheets of paper joined, with watermark: I VILLEDARY.31.8 x 43.2 cm.; 12 x 17 inchesProvenanceBequeathed by the artist to James White (1745-1825);By bequest to John Herman Merivale, 1825, and by descent in the family to his granddaughter Emily Harriet Buckingham, 1915;By descent to her sister Frances Ann Laura Solly, 1923;With Thos. Agnew, London, from whom purchased by Wayland Wells Williams (188-1945);By descent to Mrs Elizabeth Williams Garstin (1897-1979) by1950;By descent to Mrs Cynthia Garstin Blackwell by 1962, her sale,Christie's London, 21 November 2007, lot 27, £31,700, to Andrew Wyld;His sale Christie’s 10 July 2012, lot 60;With Guy Peppiatt Fine Art;Private collection, U.K. until 2024ExhibitedLondon, Old Water-Colour Society, no. 46 as 'Cataract of the Mothvay';London, Agnew's, Exhibition of Selected Watercolour Drawings by Artists of the Early English School, February - March 1922, no.120, lent by Emily Buckingham;Manchester, Agnew's, The 49th Exhibition of Selected WatercolourDrawings by Artists of the Early English School In Aid of the Manchester Royal Infirmary, November to December 1922, no. 7;Manchester, Agnew's, The Fiftieth Annual Exhibition of Selected Water Colour Drawings, November to December 1923, no. 22;Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Prints and Drawings from New England Collections, not dated, no. 632;Yale, Yale University Art Gallery, Prospects: An Exhibition of English Landscape Watercolors from English and American Private Collections, 1950, no. 60, lent from the Wayland Wells Williams Collection by Mrs Elizabeth Williams Garstin;London, W/S Fine Art Andrew Wyld, 2008 and 2009 Summer exhibitions, no. 9LiteratureAdrian Bury, Lone Star of Watercolour Painting, London, 1962, p. 151;Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, London, 1997, p. 43, fig. 14;Richard Stephens, A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne (1739-1816), FT079This substantial, exceptionally well-preserved watercolour dates from Towne’s first major sketching tour outside his native Devon to North Wales in June and July 1777 with his friend the lawyer James White. Wales was becoming a fashionable destination for tourists and the sublime landscape and medieval buildings provided many appealing subjects for artists.Towne’s numbered works from this tour start with Shropshire views (no. 1, a view of Bridgenorth dated 20th June) and end with views of Somerset (no. 54, a view of Glastonbury Abbey). Richard Stephens (op. cit.) has researched the itinerary and suggests that after Bridgenorth Towne travelled to Wenlock and then on to Shrewsbury via the Wrekin. By 27 June he was at Bala and then he headed south-west over the Cambrian Mountains to Machynlleth. The next week saw him sketching around Cadair Idris and Dolgelly and by 6 July he was near Tan y Bwlch. A few days later he headed towards Caernarvon, via Aberglaslyn and Llyn Cwellyn. From Caernarvon he took the coastal road to Conwy. He followed the River Clwyd south-east to Denbigh and then went on to Llangollen before starting to make his way home.Towne used sheets of differing sizes on this tour and this drawing is executed on one of the largest.

Signed and inscribed verso: No. 40/May 22 1781/Villa Adriano light on the right hand side afternoon/Francis Towne and numbered by Paul Oppé: 15 B.P., pen and brown ink andwatercolour on laid paper16.2 x 22.2 cm.; 6 ¼ x 8 ¾ inchesProvenanceJohn Herman Merivale (1770-1844) and thence by descent;With Squire Gallery, London, 1953, bt. Merivale for 50 gns;Sir William Worsley, Hovingham Hall, Yorkshire (1890-1973);By descent to Sir Marcus Worsley (1925-2012);With Guy Peppiatt;Private collection, U.K. until 2024LiteratureAdrian Bury, Francis Towne, 1962, pp. 95 and 143;W.A. Worsley, Early English Water-Colours at Hovingham Hall, 1963, no. 68;Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, exhibition catalogue, 1997, p.58;Richard Stephens, A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne (1739-1816), FT272ExhibitedLeeds City Art Gallery, Exhibition of Early English Watercolours, 1958, no.33; London, Oscar and Peter Johnson, Lowndes Lodge Gallery, Pictures and Drawings from Yorkshire Houses, April 1963, no.33This drawing dates from Towne's most important tour to Italy in 1780-81. He arrived in Rome in October 1780 and left via the Alps for England in August 1781. Towne spent about three weeksin Tivoli and the surrounding area in May 1781. Tivoli had long held an attraction for visiting artists due to its combination of dramatic scenery and its link to the work of Claude and Dughet.Towne produced over forty drawings and watercolours while in Tivoli. `No.1' is dated 1st May and the present drawing, number 40, dated 22nd May, is one of the last. Nos. 40 to 42, all views of Hadrian's Villa, and dated between 20th and 22nd May, were all at one time in the Worsley collection at Hovingham Hall. Adrian Bury describes them evocatively as reflecting `the haunting solitude and melancholy of this relic of the great and humane Emperor, Hadrian (op. cit., p.95). Nine of Towne's exceptional Tivoli views are now in the British Museum and no. 39 from thegroup, a wash drawing of Neptune's Grotto, Tivoli, is in the Tate Gallery.Hadrian's Villa or Villa Adriana was constructed by the Emperor Hadrian in the early second century A.D. as a country retreat outside Rome. It fell into disrepair and in the 16th century, marble and statues from the Villa were used in the construction of the nearby Villa d'Este.

SOLDSigned and dated l.r.: F. Towne delt/1787., inscribed in the artist’s hand on label: Water fall at Chudleigh Rock/Francis Towne/1787, pen and brown and grey inks and watercolour over traces of pencil on laid paper with a partial watermark, recto, a preliminary sketch in pencil and pen and brown ink, verso22.8 x 18.7 cm.; 8 7/8 x 7 3/8 inchesProvenanceProbably Hugh Edward Henry Clifford, 5th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1756-1793),by descent;Lewis Joseph Hugh Clifford (1889-1964);A gift to Margaret and Harold Michelmore, 21 October 1955;Bearne’s, Exeter 15 January 1992, lot 85 (as Waterfall in Chudleigh Glen);Bearne’s, Exeter, 9 March 1994, lot 90;Sotheby’s, London, 10 November 1994, lot 114;Heather Newman, Painswick; from whom bought by Mrs Brian McQuade, Chertsey;By descent until 2023ExhibitedThree Exeter Artists of the Eighteenth Century: Francis Hayman RA, Francis Towne, John White Abbott, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, 1951, no. 73 or 74LiteratureRichard Stephens, A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne (1739-1816), London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2016, no. FT541Francis Towne’s highly original drawings are regarded as some of the most beautiful of their time and were observed directly from nature.The present drawing shows the waterfall at Chudleigh Rocks in Devon, with its characteristic protruding rock to the left of the cascade. The artist made another similar drawing of the waterfall (Stephens, ibid, no. 541A). That work features an angler climbing the rocks and has fewer dominant trees; the water is flowing higher and covers the rocks in the foreground, visible in the present drawing. Chudleigh is about five miles south-east of Canonteign and was a favourite sketching place of Towne’s from 1783-1803.Hugh, 4th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1726-1783) was one of Towne’s major patrons. This work, executed four years after his death, was presumably commissioned by one of his sons, Hugh, 5th Baron Clifford (1756-1793) or Charles, 6th Baron Clifford (1759-1831).

Signed and dated l.l.: F. Towne /1786, signed, inscribed and dated on reverse of original mount: Going to Hornsey, near London/Francis Towne 1786, pen and brown ink and watercolour14.5 x 18 cm.; 5 ¾ x 7 inchesProvenanceBequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), on whose death it passed to Towne’s residuary legatee John Herman Merivale (1779–1844) and his successors. Merivale’s granddaughter Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853–1923) inherited the drawing in 1915 and bequeathed it to her sister Frances Ann Laura Solly (b.1858). On 2 March 1936 she sold it to Agnew’s (no.1855) for £6, and they sold it (on 29 February 1936 according to Agnew’s) for £9 9s. to Miss N. Butler, who sold it back to Agnew’s (no.6038) on 7 October 1947 for £10. On 11 October 1949 Agnew’s sold it for £28 10s. to Gilbert Davis (1899–1983), who sold it at Sotheby’s on 19 May 1954, lot 39, for £20 to Agnew’s (no.7509), who sold it to Lieutenant Commander George Gosselin Marten of Crichel, Wimborne (d.1997). It was sold by a relative, F. W. Marten, at Christie’s on 3 March 1970, lot 102, for £441, and at Christie’s South Kensington on 28 January 2015, lot 758 where bought by Beaumont Nathan for Hugo Burge (1972-2023) for £8125. His sale at Lyon and Turnbull 19 March 2025, lot 75.LiteratureR. Stephens, A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne (1739-1816) online, no. FT452.Richard Stephens suggests that this view of Hornsey may have been drawn while Towne was on his way to the Lake District in 1786.