- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View of Loreto with Part of the Adriatic Sea
- Date
- ca. 1780 - 1781
- Medium
- Pencil (?), pen and grey ink, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 315mm,
- image length 472mm
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower right
- “Francis Towne”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “View of Loretto with part of the Adriatic Sea”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (n/a)
- Catalogue Number
- FT420
- Description Sources
- Museum records (image)
Provenance
Untraced until bequeathed by writer and poet Dorothy Una Ratcliffe (1891–1967) to the present owner, Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford, 1967
- Dorothy Una Ratcliffe (1891 - 1967)
- Bibliography
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 58
Other entries in Studio Watercolours, 1783–1800
Francis Towne
Much Wenlock, Shropshire, with the Ruins of the Priory Church
Much Wenlock, Shropshire, with the Ruins of the Priory Church
Francis Towne
The Wrekin, on the Road between Much Wenlock and Shrewsbury
The Wrekin, on the Road between Much Wenlock and Shrewsbury
Francis Towne
A View going from the Head of Lake Como over Mount Splugen
A View going from the Head of Lake Como over Mount Splugen
Francis Towne
The Campagna near Rome looking towards the Sabine Mountains
The Campagna near Rome looking towards the Sabine Mountains
Francis Towne
A View of Loreto with Part of the Adriatic Sea
A View of Loreto with Part of the Adriatic Sea
Francis Towne
A View near the Arco Scuro Looking towards the Villa Medici
A View near the Arco Scuro Looking towards the Villa Medici
Francis Towne
An Evening View from Mount Palatine looking towards Mount Aventine
An Evening View from Mount Palatine looking towards Mount Aventine
Francis Towne
A View on the Banks of the Tiber near Monte Milvio
A View on the Banks of the Tiber near Monte Milvio
Francis Towne
A View of the Temple of Venus looking towards the Island of Nisida
A View of the Temple of Venus looking towards the Island of Nisida
Francis Towne
Chateau de Glerolles, near Vevey on Lake Geneva
Chateau de Glerolles, near Vevey on Lake Geneva
Francis Towne
Abbey Valley Crucis, near Llangollen on the River Dee, North Wales
Abbey Valley Crucis, near Llangollen on the River Dee, North Wales
Francis Towne
A View on the Banks of the Dee above Llangollen
A View on the Banks of the Dee above Llangollen
Francis Towne
A View of the Bay of Naples with the Island of Capri
A View of the Bay of Naples with the Island of Capri
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Comment
Loreto was a centre of pilgrimage due to the Chiesa della Casa Santa (Church of the Holy House), the domed building of Towne’s view that contained the supposed remains of the house of the Virgin Mary. As he probably visited Loreto on his way down to Rome in 1780 (the city was on the standard southward route), Towne would have missed Loreto’s major festival on 8 September, but would have been attracted nonetheless by its picture gallery with works by Lorenzo Lotto, Simon Vouet and the Carracci, and the cathedral’s mosaics by Domenichino and Guido Reni, among other art holdings
Towne has emphasised the religious character of the subject by replacing his more usual rustic figures with a religious procession. Towne’s view is similar to John “Warwick” Smith’s drawing published in his Select Views.
The drawing seems to date from the mid- to late 1780s and would have been based on a sketch made on the spot, now lost (FT170).