- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Grasmere
- Date
- ca. 1786/08
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 208mm,
- image length 338mm
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Lake of Grasmere light from the / left hand from 12 till 2 o clock”
- formerly(?), in pencil
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
- Versions
- Grasmere
A View at Grasmere
- Catalogue Number
- FT504
- Description Sources
- Examination; 1992 Bankside catalogue (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 Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853–1923) inherited the drawing in 1915 and on 24 May 1921 she sold it to Agnew’s (no.9956; probably for £62) for onward sale the same day (for £350 with FT072, FT074, FT086, FT108, FT111, FT237, FT260, FT366, FT469) to the present owner, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Inv. 92'21).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, 24 May 1921, GBP 350, Inv.92'21
Acquired with FT072, FT074, FT086, FT108, FT111, FT237, FT260, FT366, FT469 - Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 24 May 1921, no.9956
- Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853 - 1923), 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. 77 as 'Grasmere'
- Exhibition of Selected Watercolour Drawings by Artists of the Early English School, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1921, no. 36
- Catalogue of a collection of pictures, drawings, furniture and works of art of the Empire and Regency period : select examples of Romano-British art, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1929
- La Peinture anglaise, XVIII et XIX siecles, Musee du Louvre, 1938
- Early British Watercolours, Empire Loan Exhibition Society, 1950, no. 19
- unidentified exhibition, Fermoy Art Gallery, 1964
- The Discovery of the Lake District, Dove Cottage, 1982, no. 136
- The Discovery of the Lake District, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1984, no. 184
- New York Public Library and tour, William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism, New York Public Library and tour, 1987
- British Watercolours from Birmingham, Tokyo and tour, 1991
- British Watercolours from Birmingham, Bankside Gallery, 1992, no. 7
- Bibliography
- Paul Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', The Walpole Society: London, 1920, p. 121
- City of Birmingham Art Gallery, Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Paintings in Oil, Tempera, Water-Colour, etc.: Birmingham, 1930, p. 197
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 103, 135
- Luke Herrmann, British Landscape Painting of the 18th Century, Faber: London, 1973, p. 78
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
Footnotes
- 1 B. T. Pouncey, after J. Farington, Grasmere, ca. 1785 (Wordsworth Trust).
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Comment
This is a view of Grasmere from the road between Ambleside and Keswick, near Rydal. The pointy hill above the village of Grasmere is called Helm Crag. Towne has tried to minimise the impact of the small island by depicting it as a tip on the left edge of his view. Towne’s viewpoint is the same as Joseph Farington’s engraving, which became the standard view.1 The popularity of Farington’s work may help to explain the existence of two later versions by Towne, FT534 and FT644.