- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- On the Lake of Lugano
- Date
- 1781/08/24
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, grey wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 154mm,
- image length 210mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “On the Lake of Lugano / Light from the left hand / August 24th, 1781 / No.16 / Francis Towne”
- in brown ink over pencil up to “1781”, thereafter ink only
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Collection
-
- (T08562)
- Catalogue Number
- FT306
- Description Sources
- Examination; Museum 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 (BP47). In November 1935 Judith Merivale sold it to Paul Oppé (1878–1957; no.2112) for £15 with five other drawings (FT328, FT332, FT335, FT336, FT350). In 1996 Oppé’s heirs sold it with the rest of his collection to the present owner, the Tate Gallery, London (T08562).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Tate, London, 1996, T08562
- Adolph Paul Oppé (1878 - 1957), London, November 1935, GBP 15, no.2112
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP47
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP47
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- 76th Annual Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1949, no. 3
- Early English Drawings and Watercolours from the Collection of Paul Oppe Esq., Graves Art Gallery, 1952, no. 70
- Exhibition of Works from The Paul Oppe Collection, Royal Academy, 1958, no. 98
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 146
Other entries in Small Sketchbook: Northern Italy, Switzerland, Savoy and Germany, August and September 1781
A View of a Bridge Fifteen Miles from Florence on the Road to Bologna
Le Rêve at the Head of Lake Como (Lago di Mezzola)
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Comment
This is the first surviving sketch of many that Towne made on the lakes of Lombardy in late August 1781. This may be one portion of a broader view of the lake, whose other parts are now lost.