Francis Towne

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 watercolour
14.5 x 18 cm.; 5 ¾ x 7 inches

Provenance
Bequeathed 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.

Literature
R. 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.