Description
Creator
Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
Title(s)
  • At Ullswater
  • Ulswater
  • Ulswater, near Patterdale
  • [one of] Two Swiss Scenes
Date
ca. 1786/08
Medium
Pen and brown ink, watercolour, scratching out
Dimensions
  • image width 95mm,
  • image length 152mm
Mount
mounted by the artist
Inscription
  • artist's mount, verso
  • “At Ullswater”
Object Type
Watercolour

Catalogue Number
FT499
Description Sources
Sotheby's 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 granddaughter Mary Ann “Molly” Loveband (b.1865, alive in 1951) inherited the drawing in 1915 and her daughter Joyce Merivale Loveband (b.1895, alive in 1981) sold it at Sotheby’s on 16 July 1981, lot 94, for £3,200 to Anthony Reed, who owned it until 2005, when it was on sale at W/S Fine Art Ltd and later in 2005 at John Spink for £29,000.

Associated People & Organisations

Private Collection
John Spink, London, 2005
W S Fine Art, London, 2005
Anthony Reed (20th century), London, 16 July 1981, GBP 3200
Sotheby's, London, London, 16 July 1981, lot 94
Joyce Merivale Loveband (1895)
Mary Ann Loveband (1865 - alive in 1951), 1915
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. 53 or 55 as 'Ulswater', or 54 as 'Ulswater, near Patterdale'
Three Exeter Artists of the Eighteenth Century: Francis Hayman RA, Francis Towne, John White Abbott, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 1951, no. 56
Francis Towne and his Friends, John Spink at Colnaghi, 2005, no. 7
Watercolours and Drawings, W/S Fine Art Ltd Andrew Wyld, 2005, no. 8
Bibliography
Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 150 as one of 'Two Swiss Scenes'

Comment

Ullswater is a long lake west of Keswick approaching Penrith. There is no indication that it is numbered, although it has not been examined out of the frame. Nevertheless, it clearly belongs to the small series.

by Richard Stephens

Revisions & Feedback

The website will be updated from time to time and, when changes are made, a PDF of the previous version of each page will be archived here for consultation and citation.

Please help us to improve this catalogue


If you have information, a correction or any other suggestions to improve this catalogue, please contact us.