Description
Creator
Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
Title(s)
  • Plymouth
  • A Panoramic View of Plymouth
Date
1810/09/06
Medium
Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour
Dimensions
  • image width 171mm,
  • image width 540mm
Support
two sheets of wove paper
Inscription
  • sheet, verso
  • “Plymouth / Septr 6th 1810 / F.Towne”
  • in ink
Part of
  • 1810 Sketchbook
Object Type
Watercolour

Collection
Catalogue Number
FT708
Description Sources
Examination; Museum records (image)

Provenance

Bequeathed by Francis Towne 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 FT689 to FT714, much or all of which by 1963 was the property of Mr and Mrs Sutton of New Zealand. This drawing (7772/11) was sold for £850 to Bruce Howe, and in 1970 it was given anonymously to the current owner, Rhode Island School of Design (70.118.53).

Associated People & Organisations

Rhode Island Museum of Art, School of Design, Providence, 1970, 70.118.53
Dr Bruce Howe, GBP 850
Mr & Mrs Sutton, New Zealand, 1963
Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915
The drawing was inherited within a sketchbook containing FT689 to FT714.
Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915
The drawing was inherited within a sketchbook containing FT689 to FT714.
John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
Exhibition History
Early English Water-colours and Drawings, Fine Art Society, 1964, no. 84 as 'Plymouth Sept 6 1810 panorama'
Selection II, British Watercolours and Drawings, Rhode Island School of Design, 1972, no. 15
Bibliography
Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 140

Comment

This is a view of Plymouth from the north-east, probably on the road which led down to Teats Hill and Mount Edgcumbe. Charles Church’s spire is on the far right, St Andrew’s a little to its left.1

by Richard Stephens

Footnotes

  1. 1 Donn 1965, pl.12a.

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