Francis Towne (1739 - 1816) was born in Isleworth, Middlesex. In 1752 he was apprenticed to a leading coach painter in London, Thomas Brookshead. In 1759 he won a design prize from the Society of Arts, and studied for a while at St Martin’s Lane Academy. .In 1763 Towne was employed by a coach painter called Thomas Watson in Long Acre, and went to Exeter on business, where he soon settled. He had already begun painting in oils and also taught drawing, and now he began to accept commissions from wealthy families in Devon. After a tour of north Wales in 1777 he began to specialise in watercolours.
He remained an obscure figure until the early 20th century, so that the collector Paul Oppé was able to acquire numbers of important works very cheaply. Oppé was greatly impressed, especially with Towne's elegant and somewhat stylised early manner, which chimed with trends in English painting at the time, "the taste of our own century for flat colourful pattern-making", as Andrew Wilton put it in 1993. After making contact with descendants of Towne's student and friend, John Herman Merivale, Oppé discovered a collection of largely unseen works which Towne had bequeathed to Merivale. He catalogued the works and published an article about the artist in a 1919 volume of the Walpole Society journal. These writings helped to create a revival of interest in Towne, and more works began to appear on the market. By the 1950s he was widely recognised as an important figure and his works were owned by many museums, especially the British Museum and the Yale Centre for British Art. A catalogue raisonné of the artist's work is published by the Paul Mellon Centra for Studies in British Art.
For more information on Towne’s life and works see part 1.
For earlier works see parts 1 - 6 also.
This is part 7 of 10 part series on the works of Francis Towne:
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| 1786 Rydal Water looking towards Grasmere pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour, gum 29.8 x 56.4 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1786 Rydal Water pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 15.7 x 23.7 cm Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
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| 1786 Rydal Water brown inks, watercolour 23.2 x 37.5 cm Wordsworth Trust, UK |
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| 1786 Skelwith Force and Lingmoor Fell pencil, pen and ink, watercolour 26.7 x 37.5 cm Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, UK |
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| 1786 St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 15.6 x 23.6 cm Private Collection |
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| 1786 St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 15.5 x 23.5 cm Private Collection |
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| 1786 The Campagna near Rome looking towards the Sabine Mountains pencil and watercolour 23.2 x 47.4 cm Tate, London |
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| 1786 The Cascade at Rydal Hall pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour with gum 23.6 x 15.7 cm Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK |
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| 1786 The Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 37.5 x 26.7 cm Private Collection |
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| 1786 The Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK |
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| 1786 The Entrance to Borrowdale pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 9.7 x 15.6 cm Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT |
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| 1786 The Entrance to Borrowdale pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 9.7 x 15.6 cm Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT |
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| 1786 Ullswater from Gowbarrow Park pencil, pen and grey and brown inks, watercolour, scratching out 13.5 x 15.5 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| 1786-1805 A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 21.3 x 33.7 cm |
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| 1786c A Memory of Lord Ashburnham’s Claude (after Claude Lorrain) grey and brown washes 20.8 x 26.7 cm Manchester Museum & the Whitworth, University of Manchester, UK |
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| c1786 A Rushing Stream pen and brown ink, watercolour 26.9 x 37.9 cm National Museums Northern Ireland, Collection Ulster Museum, UK |
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| c1786 A View of Derwent Water and Skiddaw pencil, pen and grey and brown inks, watercolour, scratching out, gum 21.2 x 66.7 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| 1786c A View of Derwent Water pen and brown ink, watercolour, gum 20.7 x 22.7 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| c1786 At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour with gum 26.3 x 38.1 cm |
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| c1786 At Keswick, looking towards Skiddaw pen and grey and brown inks, watercolour, gum 10.2 x 16.2 cm |
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| c1786 At Low Wood looking across Lake Windermere pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour 26.6 x 38.1 cm |
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| c1786 At Ullswater pen and brown ink, watercolour, scratching out 9.5 x 15.2 cm Private Collection |
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| c1786 Bassenthwaite pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 15.5 x 35 cm Private Collection |
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| c1786 Borrowdale pen and brown ink, watercolour 9.5 x 15.5 cm The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| c1786 Eagle Crag, Borrowdale pencil, pen and grey and brown inks, watercolour 21 x 33 cm |
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| c1786 Eagle Crag, Borrowdale pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour 21.3 x 34 cm Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT |
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| c1786 From Rydal Hall Park pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour, gum 37.9 x 26.8 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| c1786 Grasmere pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour 20.8 x 33.8 cm Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, UK |
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| c1786 In Peamore Park watercolour 14.5 x 19 cm |
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| c1786 Rydal Fell and Loughrigg pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour, scratching out 15.6 x 46.9 cm The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York |
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| c1786 The Bowder Stone pencil, pen and ink, watercolour 21 x 33.7 cm Museums Sheffield, UK |
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| c1786 The Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside pen and ink, watercolour 38.1 x 25.4 cm Private Collection |
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| c1786 The Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour 37.6 x 26.5 cm Tate, London |
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| c1786 Trees over a Torrent pen and brown ink, watercolour, sepia 37.8 x 26.7 cm Private Collection |
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| c1786 Ullswater pencil, pen and black and brown inks, watercolour Private Collection |
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| 1787 A View of the Lake and City of Como pencil, watercolour and gum with pen and grey ink 35.6 x 53.1 cm Rhode Island Museum of Art, School of Design, Providence |
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| 1787 A View of the Town and Lake of Lugano pen and grey ink, watercolour, gum 36 x 54 cm Rhode Island Museum of Art, School of Design, Providence |
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| 1787 A View taken of the Upper Grounds of Peamore Park watercolour 14..8 x 18.4 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| 1787 Chudleigh Rocks pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour 18.9 x 21.9 cm Private Collection |
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| 1787 Grasmere watercolour 30.5 x 44.1 cm |
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| 1787 The Island of Lundy pencil, pen and black and brown ink, watercolour 13.2 x 21.1 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1787 Waterfall at Chudleigh Rock pencil, pen and black and brown inks, watercolour 17.1 x 13.7 cm Winchester College, UK |
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| 1787 Waterfall at Chudleigh Rock pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour (size not found) Private Collection |
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| 1788 A View on the Banks of the Dee above Llangollen pencil and watercolour 38.5 x 54 cm The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK |
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| 1788 Abbey Valley Crucis, near Llangollen on the River Dee, North Wales pen and ink, watercolour 38.5 x 54 cm The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK |
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| 1788 Lake Bala pencil and watercolour 39.4 x 69.2 cm Private Collection |
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| 1788 Vale of the Dee below Llangollen pencil and watercolour 38.7 x 54 cm The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK |
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| 1789 A View of the Bay of Naples with the Island of Capri pencil and watercolour 39.4 x 53.7 cm |
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| 1789 A View of the Junction of the Two Rhines pencil and watercolour 40.3 x 55.4 cm |
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| 1789 A View of the Junction of the Two Rhines watercolour 21.6 x 27.9 cm Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK |
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| 1789-1809 Netley Abbey pen and ink, watercolour 35.4 x 49 cm Tate, London |
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| 1790 Cloutsham Farm pencil and watercolour 39.4 x 54.6 cm |
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| 1790 Landscape pencil and watercolour 38.7 x 54.5 cm |
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| 1790 Luccombe Church pen and ink, watercolour 38 x 54 cm |
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| 1790 Tarr Steps, near Withypool pencil and watercolour 39.5 x 54 cm |
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| 1790 The Barle River pencil and watercolour 38.7 x 54.6 cm |
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| 1790 Waterfall at Tivoli pencil and watercolour 63.5 x 43.2 cm Private Collection |
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| c1790-1800 Exmouth Beach pen and ink, watercolour 23,1 x 37.2 cm Boltom Library and Museum Services, UK |
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| 1791 Scene in the City of Exeter between the Quaygate and Westgate pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour, scratching out 20 x 31 cm Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter City Council , UK |
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