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 & 2 also.
This is part 3 of 10 part series on the works of Francis Towne:
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| c1780-90 Werrington Park, near the Dairy pencil, pen and light brown ink, watercolour 21.6 x 27.9 cm Private Collection (All Rights Reserved) |
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| c1780 A Mill pencil, pen and black ink, grey wash 24.3 x 42 cm Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK |
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| c1780 A View on the Banks of the Tiber at Rome oil on canvas 49.8 x 74.3 cm Private Collection |
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| c1780 Coming down from Capodimonte pencil and watercolour 31.5 x 47.5 cm Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford Museums & Galleries, UK |
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| c1780 Inside the Colosseum pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour 32.3 x 46.8 cm The British Museum, London |
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| c1780 Inside the Colosseum pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour 47.2 x 31.9 cm The British Museum, London |
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| c1780 Wenlock Priory pen and ink, watercolour 21.6 x 27.6 cm |
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| 1781 A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour, gum 15.2 x 23.6 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 A View looking towards the Apennines pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour 15.3 x 20.9 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 A View of a Bridge Fifteen Miles from Florence on the Road to Bologna pen and ink, watercolour 15.7 x 22.2 cm Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT |
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| 1781 A View of Domaso on Lake Como pencil, pen and black and brown inks, watercolour with gum 28.8 x 47 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 A View of Lake Maggiore from Laveno pencil, pen and grey and brown inks, grey wash 28.6 x 46.5 cm Tate, London |
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| 1781 A View of Lake Maggiore pen and grey and brown inks, watercolour on wove paper 15.5 x 21 cm Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT |
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| 1781 A View of Rocca di Papa pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash 24.8 x 38.7 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| 1781 A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour with gum, scratching out 38.7 x 50.4 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 A View of the Source of the Arveyron pen and brown ink, watercolour, scratching out 31 x 21 cm Tate, London |
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| 1781 A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome pencil, pen and grey and black inks, watercolour 24.6 x 38.4 cm Tate, London |
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| 1781 A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome watercolour 24.5 x 38.7 cm Tate, London |
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| 1781 A View of Tivoli pencil, pen and black and grey inks, watercolour 38.7 x 50.4 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 A View on the Palatine Hill pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour with gum 32.5 x 47.4 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 A View taken above Lausanne looking over Lake Geneva pencil, pen and ink, watercolour, gum 24.2 x 90.5 cm Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK |
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| 1781 Arricia pencil, pen and black and grey inks, watercolour with gum 32.5 x 47.4 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 At Tivoli pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour 38.4 x 49.8 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 At Tivoli pencil, pen and grey ink, grey and blue washes 38 x 50 cm |
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| 1781 Baths of Titus pencil, watercolour with gum 32 x 28.8 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 Blasted Pine Tree in the Villa Mondragone, Frascati pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash 31.2 x 21.1 cm |
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| 1781 Castello Madamo pencil, brown sepia ink, watercolour 22.4 x 31.6 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Castello Madamo pencil, pen and ink, watercolour 21.6 x 26.7 cm Rhode Island Museum of Art, School of Design, Providence |
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| 1781 Civita Castellana pen and black ink, watercolour 15.7 x 21.2 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Coming down from Capodimonte pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour and gum 32.3 x 46.8 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 Convent of S. Eframo Vecchio pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour, gum, scratching out 32.4 x 47.1 cm Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
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| 1781 Domaso on Lake Como pen and grey ink, grey wash 27.5 x 46 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Entrance to the Grotto at Posilippo, Naples watercolour and grey ink over graphite on medium slightly textured cream laid paper 32.1 x 23.2 cm Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT |
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| 1781 Five Miles on the Road from Rome to Tivoli pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash, touches of watercolour 18 x 24 cm |
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| 1781 Frascati pen and ink, grey wash 21.6 x 31.7 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Glacial Valley of Glarus pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash 28.5 x 46.5 cm Manchester Museum & the Whitworth, University of Manchester, UK |
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| 1781 Glacier from Montanvert pencil, pen and grey ink, grey and blue washes 25.4 x 67.3 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Going out from the Porta Pia, looking towards the Sabine Mountains pencil, pen and grey ink, blue/green and grey washes 20.3 x 26.7 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Going to Vicovaro pencil, pen and grey ink, grey/brown and blue washes 23.2 x 32.1 cm Winchester College, UK |
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| 1781 Going up Mount Splugen pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour with gum, scratching out, pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour with gum, scratching out 21.3 x 33.3 cm Tate, London |
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| 1781 Hadrian's Villa pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour 15.3 x 21.5 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Hadrian's Villa pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour 16.2 x 22.2 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Hadrian's Villa pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour 22.3 x 16.6 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Head of Lake Geneva pencil, pen and brown ink, grey and blue washes 26 x 36.8 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Head of Lake Geneva pencil, pen and brown ink, grey and blue washes 26.3 x 37.9 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| 1781 Head of Lake Geneva pencil, pen and brown ink, grey and blue washes 26.4 x 37.9 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| 1781 Head of Lake Geneva, looking towards Montreux and the Chateau Chillon pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash 25 x 68 cm Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK |
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| 1781 In a Wood near Albano pen and grey wash 32 x 44.6 cm Tate, London |
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| 1781 In the Valley of the Grisons looking on Tusis pencil, pen and black and grey inks, watercolour with gum, scratching out 28.8 x 46.7 cm The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| 1781 In the Villa Barberini pen and black ink, watercolour with gum 35.4 x 26.7 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 In the Villa Barberini pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour with gum, scratching out 27 x 36.9 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 In the Villa Mondragone pencil, pen and black ink, grey wash 25.7 x 38.1 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| 1781 In the Villa Mondragone, Frascati pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash 22.3 x 32.2 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Inside the Colosseum pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour 31.2 x 46.9 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 Inside the Colosseum pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour 31.8 x 47.1 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1781 Lake Albano pencil, pen and black and grey inks, watercolour 32.2 x 64.9 cm The British Museum |
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| 1781 Lake Albano pencil, pen and grey ink, grey/brown wash 31.8 x 45.7 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Lake Albano pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour 31.2 x 47 cm Private Collection |
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| 1781 Lake Como (Lago di Mezzola) pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour 15.4 x 21.1 cm Tate, London |
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| 1781 Lake Como pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour, scratching out 15.5 x 21.1 cm Tate, London |
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| 1781 Lake Como pencil, pen and dark grey and brown inks, grey wash, scratching out 15.6 x 21 cm Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), UK |
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| 1781 Lake Klönthal near Glarus pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash 28.5 x 46.6 cm Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead; Wirral Museums Service, UK |
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