- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Devon estuary view
- From the Hill Top (Powderham Castle)
- Date
- ca. 1813
- Medium
- Pen and ink and blue wash
- Dimensions
-
- image height 110mm,
- image width 180mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “From the Hill Top”
- based on the title given in 1946
- Part of
-
- 1812-1815 Sketchbook
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Catalogue Number
- FT739
- Description Sources
- Phillips records; Timothy Wilcox (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 within a sketchbook containing FT733 to FT751. Probably the book was among the “two small sketchbooks and five small drawings late in date” that Judith Merivale sold to Squire Gallery in 1945 for £50, as certainly Squire Gallery owned it, for in late 1945 or early 1946 it was sold by Herbert Milling to the Fine Art Society (no.4031), where on 18 January 1947 it was bought for £26 5s. by Michael Roberts. It was offered for sale at Phillips on 23 April 1990, lot 12, and was in an English private collection in 2013.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Private Collection, 23 April 1990
- Phillips, London, 23 April 1990, lot 12
- Michael Roberts, 18 January 1947, GBP 26.5s
- The Fine Art Society, London, London, no.4031
- Squire Gallery, London, 1945, GBP 50
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915
Inherited within a sketchbook containing FT733 to FT751. - Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915
Inherited within a sketchbook containing FT733 to FT751. - John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
Other entries in 1812–15 Sketchbook
From the West India Dock Blackwall looking towards the Royal Naval College, Greenwich
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.
Comment
Although this was identified in 1946 as a view showing Powderham Castle, that seems by no means certain. It could be a view looking over the Exe estuary, with Haldon Hill in the extreme distance. If so, perhaps it was drawn in 1813 on the same occasion as FT738.