Description
Creator
Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
Title(s)
  • Bickleigh Vale
Date
1815/09/04
Medium
Pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour
Dimensions
  • image height 140mm,
  • image length 235mm
Inscription
  • sheet, verso, lower left
  • “No.13 – Bickley Vale / Septr 4th 1815 / Francis Towne”
  • in brown ink (showing through recto, bottom right)
Part of
  • 1815 Sketchbook
Object Type
Watercolour

Catalogue Number
FT777
Description Sources
Examination; 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 granddaughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), both of Oxford, inherited the drawing in May 1915 as part of a sketchbook containing FT765 to FT786, which they gave to their cousin Mary Ann Loveband (b.1865, alive in 1951), who sold the book to Agnew’s on 17 May 1938 for £60. On 11 October 1938 Agnew’s (no. 2699) sold this drawing for £10 10s. to Professor John Malins (1915–1992), who sold it at Sotheby’s on 30 March 1983, lot 127, for £2,800. It was sold again at Sothebys’ on 28 November 2002, lot 261, for £7,200 and by John Spink in 2005 (advertised for £35,000).

Associated People & Organisations

Private Collection
John Spink, London, 2005
Sotheby's, London, London, 28 November 2002, lot 261
Private Collection, 30 March 1983, GBP 2800
Sotheby's, London, London, 30 March 1983, lot 127
Professor John Malins (1915 - 1992), 11 October 1938, GBP 10.10s
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 17 May 1938, GBP 60, no. 2699
Mary Ann Loveband (1865 - alive in 1951)
Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915
Inherited as part of a sketchbook containing FT765 to FT786.
Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915
Inherited as part of a sketchbook containing FT765 to FT786.
John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
Exhibition History
Francis Towne and his Friends, John Spink at Colnaghi, 2005, no. 23
Bibliography
Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 150

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