- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View of Derwent Water and Skiddaw
- A View of Keswick Lake
- Date
- ca. 1786/08
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and grey and brown inks, watercolour, scratching out, gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 212mm,
- image length 667mm
- Support
- two sheets
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower right
- “Keswick Lake F.Towne delt. / 1786”
- the signature in brown ink, otherwise black ink
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “A View of Keswick Lake and Skiddaw / Cumberland / drawn by Francis Towne / 1786”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (5.224/52)
- Catalogue Number
- FT507
- Description Sources
- Examination; Museum records (image)
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 (BP152, Keswick Lake & Skiddaw). On 5 May 1924 they sold it to Agnews (no.10471) for £35 for onward sale (on 3 May according to Agnew’s) for £52 to Norman Darnton Lupton (1875–1953) of Hyde Crook, Dorchester, Dorset. Agnes Lupton (1874–1950) and Norman Lupton bequeathed it to the current owner, Leeds City Art Gallery (5.224/52).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds, 1953, 5.224/52
- Norman Darnton Lupton (1875 - 1953), Dorchester, 3 May 1924, GBP 52
- Agnes Lupton (1874 - 1950), Dorchester, 3 May 1924, GBP 52
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 5 May 1924, GBP 35, no.10471
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP152
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP152
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- [?] Exhibition of Original Drawings at the Gallery, No.20 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, 20 Lower Brook Street, 1805, no. 74 as 'A View of Keswick Lake'
- Early English Water Colours, Leeds City Art Gallery, 8 October 1958 to 23 November 1958, no. 101
- The Lupton Collection, Leeds City Art Gallery, 1972, no. 72
- British Watercolours 1760-1930 from the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1980, no. 95
- The Discovery of the Lake District, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1984, no. 94
- Derwentwater: Vale of Elysium, Wordsworth Museum, 1986, no. 97
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 45, 103, 132
- Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds Art Calendar, No. 26: Leeds, 1954, p. 11
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 127
Other entries in Lake District, 1786
Francis Towne
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
Francis Towne
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
Francis Towne
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Francis Towne
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
Francis Towne
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
Francis Towne
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
Francis Towne
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
Francis Towne
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
Francis Towne
Elter Force, near Ambleside
Elter Force, near Ambleside
National Gallery National Gallery of Victoria
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Comment
This is a view from the southern end of the lake, looking north to Skiddaw. The house at bottom left is identified in the museum’s notes as the inn at Lodore.
This drawing shows signs of having been worked on later than 1786. At the right edge the broody sky is reminiscent of a Tivoli watercolour dated 1789 (FT256). Elsewhere, the shaded areas of woodland and rock have been emphasised in a dark ink applied with a brush. At the left the brush hatchings that make up the foliage of the light-coloured tree are typical of Towne’s studio watercolours of the later 1780s and 1790s.