- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Pantenbruck
- Date
- 1781/09/03
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 279mm,
- image length 457mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto
- “glaciere”
- at the summit of mountain
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “Panten-Bruck, a bridge over the cataract that forms the summit which is called / the Sand-bach, this bridge is a single arch of Stone of about 70 feet in Length thrown over / a Precipice of about 300 feet in depth. Distance Glaciers of Glaris / No.28 / September 3rd 1781 morning light from the right Hand / Francis Towne”
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Collection
-
- (no.2209)
- Catalogue Number
- FT370
- Description Sources
- 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 (BP75). On 7 February 1934 Judith Merivale sold it to Agnew’s (no.11570) for £8, where it was bought (on 6 February according to Agnew’s) for £11 by A. E. Anderson, from whom it was acquired in June 1934 by the present owner, Williamson Art Gallery and Museum (no.2209).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead Wirral, June 1934, no.2209
- A. E. Anderson (active 1934), 6 February 1934, GBP 11
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 7 February 1934, GBP 8, no.11570
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- Annual Exhibition of Water-Colours & Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1934, no. 83
- The Great Period of British Watercolour from Turner to Burne-Jones, Museo d'Arte della citta; Gainsborough's House, 2004, no. 45
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 138
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, pp. 164-165
- William Coxe, Travels in Switzerland in a Series of Letters to William Melmouth Esq, T. Cadell: London, 1789, vol 1, pp. 50-52
Other entries in C&I Honig Series: Northern Italy and Switzerland, August and September 1781
“Lago Torfi”, near Lugano
National Gallery National Gallery of Victoria
Waterfall between Chiavenna and Mount Splugen
In the Valley of the Grisons looking on Tusis
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Comment
As “Sandbach” is the name given to the southern part of the River Linth, which travels north–south through Glarus, and is not the name of a mountain, it seems that Towne’s ostensibly misleading inscription must have identified Sandbach with the cataract, not the summit. Towne’s view seems to be a southerly view at Pantenbruck, looking towards the mountain of Todi and the Biferten Glacier. Pantenbruck is two hours’ walk from Linthal and Towne would have passed it en route to the site of FT369, the southern end of Glarus. However, as the lighting suggests a north view, the topographical details must remain unresolved. See also the Comment at FT333.
The confusion in Towne’s description comes from his use of the travel writings of William Coxe, a French translation of which was among Towne’s effects in 1816.1 As French editions of Coxe were published in 1781 and 1787, it is very possible that Towne used the book as he travelled through Switzerland. For the inscription on this drawing, though, clearly Towne had access to the text in English, as he has copied phrases directly from it. The opening statement of his inscription, however, has been mistranscribed from Coxe’s account: