- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Mer de Glace, Chamonix
- Valley of Ice in Switzerland
- Date
- 1793
- Medium
- Watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 593mm,
- image length 882mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower right
- “F Towne 1793”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
- Versions
- Glacier from Montanvert
- Catalogue Number
- FT573
- Description Sources
- Examination; 1997 Tate catalogue (image)
Provenance
Presumably commissioned by the 5th (or possibly 6th) Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, it was sold to Agnew’s (no.8280) on 14 March 1956 by Lewis Joseph Hugh, 12th Baron Clifford (1889–1964), for £150. On 22 November 1956 it was bought from Agnew’s by Sir William Worsley, Bt (1890–1973), who sold it back to Agnew’s on 25 February 1959 (no.9668). The same day Agnew’s sold it to the current owner, the City of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum (ABDAG003686).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen, 25 February 1959, ABDAG003686
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 25 February 1959, no.9668
- Sir William Worsley (1890 - 1973), 22 November 1956
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 14 March 1956, GBP 150, no.8280
- Lewis Joseph Hugh Clifford (1889 - 1964), March 1956
- [?] Hugh Edward Henry Clifford, 5th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1756 - 1793)
- Exhibition History
- Three Exeter Artists of the Eighteenth Century: Francis Hayman RA, Francis Towne, John White Abbott, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 1951, no. 64
- 83rd Annual Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1957, no. 22
- Wordsworth and the Alps, Wordsworth Trust, 1990
- Brush to Paper, Aberdeen Art Gallery, 1991, no. 120
- Francis Towne, Tate Gallery; Leeds City Art Gallery, 24 June 1997 - 4 January 1998, no. 63
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 101, 103, 139
- George Oliver, Cliffordiana, T.Howe: Exeter, 1830, p. 92
- Paul Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', The Walpole Society: London, 1920, p. 101
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, pp. 50, 100, 133
- John Ingamells, A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701-1800, Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 1997, pp. 218-219
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
Footnotes
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Comment
The source for the upper part of this watercolour is FT383, which probably contained a bottom portion, now lost, covering the foreground of this view. Oppé stated that this work was in oil, although also mentioned he had not seen it.
One of Towne’s major patrons was Hugh, 4th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1726–1783). This work, however, was commissioned not by him but probably by one of his sons, Hugh, 5th Baron Clifford (1756–1793), or Charles, 6th Baron Clifford (1759–1831). Although the watercolour is dated 1793, the order for it is likely to have come before then. Hugh, 5th Baron, was abroad during the final few years of his life, and his travels through Switzerland may have been the stimulus for this commission.1 His premature death in 1793 was the spur for the publication of a second edition of Revd Joseph Reeve’s poem Ugbrooke Park (see FT813). This watercolour was described by Thomas H. Williams in 1827 as “Valley of Ice in Switzerland” when it hung in the ante-room at Ugbrooke.2