- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View Looking over Starcross
- Date
- ca. 1778 - 1780
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and black and brown inks
- Dimensions
-
- image width 311mm,
- image length 606mm
- Support
- paper with four creasemarks (vertical and horizontal) and watermarked with a Strasbourg lily design and "J.Villedary"
- Inscription
-
- recto
- on the far bank: "water / water / water / water / water"; and on the houses by the near shore: "slate / white / slate / white"
- Inscription
-
- verso
- formerly: "A View looking over Star Cross / 83"
- in brown ink
- Object Type
- Outline only
-
- Collection
-
- (no.5583)
- Versions
- A View from the South East Window of the Belvedere
A View looking towards Star Cross and Exmouth from the South East window of the Belvedere
- Catalogue Number
- FT136
- Description Sources
- Museum's own information
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 granddaughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), both of Oxford, inherited the drawing in May 1915 (BP180). On 12 April 1946 Judith Merivale’s executors sold the drawing to Agnew’s (no.4549), who sold it on 7 October 1949 for £30 to Paul Oppé (1878–1957) on behalf of the present owner, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (no.5583, Oppé 147).
- Associated People & Organisations
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 7 October 1949, no.5583
- Adolph Paul Oppé (1878 - 1957), London, 7 October 1949, GBP 30
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 12 April 1946, no.4549
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP180
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP180
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Bibliography
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Annual Report of the Board of Trustees for the fiscal year 1949/50: Ottawa, 1949, p. 19
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 50
Other entries in West Country Sketches, 1772–80
Francis Towne
A View of Exeter, taken between Exwick and Cowley Bridge
A View of Exeter, taken between Exwick and Cowley Bridge
Francis Towne
A View of Berry Pomeroy Castle within the Gateway
A View of Berry Pomeroy Castle within the Gateway
Francis Towne
A View going up from the Lake in Peamore Park
A View going up from the Lake in Peamore Park
Francis Towne
A View from the Hill above the Lake at Peamore
A View from the Hill above the Lake at Peamore
Francis Towne
A View near Exwell, looking towards Topsham
A View near Exwell, looking towards Topsham
Francis Towne
A View of the Waterfall at Lidford in the County of Devon
A View of the Waterfall at Lidford in the County of Devon
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Comment
Starcross is a small village at the mouth of the Exe estuary. The view looks over Starcross and the Powderham marshland across the water to Exmouth. One of the two large houses at the waterfront in the centre of this drawing is very probably Cockwood, which Dr Drury later redeveloped (see FT631).
The drawing is a preparatory study for FT133, now lost but one of a series associated with Powderham and the Exe estuary, of which two are dated 1778 and 1779. This drawing is stylistically similar to others of the late 1770s (for example FT138). See the Comment at FT119.
Oppé saw the drawing in the possession of the Misses Merivale, when it was roughly 100 mm taller than it is now. According to the museum’s records, Agnew’s cut off the verso inscription, presumably also losing the 100 mm strip.