Description
Creator
Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
Title(s)
  • Shrewsbury from the River Severn
Date
1809
Medium
Pencil, pen and grey ink, blue and grey washes
Dimensions
  • image width 154mm,
  • image length 456mm
Support
two pages (f.4 v and f.5 r) of a sketchbook watermarked “J WHATMAN 1808”
Inscription
  • sheet, verso
  • “at Shrewsbury [“of” scratched out] a drawing from the / River Severn” in a very shaky hand
  • folio 4 recto, in a very shaky hand
Part of
  • 1809 Sketchbook
Object Type
Monochrome wash

Collection
Catalogue Number
FT660
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. Merivae's grand-daughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853-1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860-1945), both of Oxford, inherited the sketchbook in May 1915 and sold it in 1923 for £20 to the present owner, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (the museum's records state that they paid £30 for this sketchbook with FT400, FT401 and FT402).

Associated People & Organisations

Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1923, GBP 20, PDP, 1090.f.5
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
Francis Towne, Tate Gallery; Leeds City Art Gallery, 24 June 1997 - 4 January 1998, no. 67
Bibliography
Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 128
Paul Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', The Walpole Society: London, 1920, p. 124

Comment

 

Verso

Recto

(Inside front cover) inscribed “Francis Towne / August 24. 1809” in pen (and “JAM.” in pencil; and, in the same twentieth-century hand that appears elsewhere in the book, “Bought by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam from Miss Judith A. Merivale of 4 Park Town, Oxford – July 1923”, in pen)  

(f.1r) fragmentary drawing of foliage, in pencil (FT657)

(f.1v) blank

(f.2r) inscribed “Clifton at Bristol” 

(f.2v) drawing of Clifton at Bristol, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT658)

(f.3r) continuation of drawing on 2v

(f.3v) drawing of trees, barges, and houses by a river (upside down relative to the other drawings), in pencil (FT659)

(f.4r) inscribed “at Shrewsbury [“of” scratched out] a drawing from the / River Severn” in a very shaky hand

(f.4v) drawing of Shrewsbury from the River Severn, in pencil, pen and grey ink, blue and grey washes (FT660)

(f.5r) continuation of drawing on 4v

(f.5v) blank

(f.6r) blank

(f.6v) drawing of Shrewsbury Castle from the bridge, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT661)

(f.7r) continuation of drawing on 6v

(f.7v) inscribed “Castle / Castle / Shrewsbury from the Bridge” in brown ink, except the first “Castle” in pencil (the other “Castle” is in John Herman Merivale’s hand)

(f.8r) blank

(f.8v) drawing of Shrewsbury from the bridge with Breidden Hill in the distance, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT662)

9r: continuation of drawing on 8v

9(f.v) inscribed “Shrewsbury from the Bridge over the Severn / Brith[. . .]n [indistinct; “Malvern” erased in pencil] hills in the distance.”

10r: blank

(f.10v) drawing of Snowdon, near Capel Cerig, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT663)

11r: continuation of drawing on 10v

(f.11v) inscribed “Snowdon / near Capel Cerig [over “from Capel Cerig” in pencil]”

12r: blank page

(f.12v) drawing of the view from the back door of the Inn at Capel Cerig, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT664)

13r: continuation of drawing on 12v

(f.13v) inscribed “From the Back Door of the Inn / at Capel Cerig” in pencil and “From the Back Door of the Inn at Capel Cerig”

14r: drawing of Snowdon from Capel Cerig, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT665)

(f.14v) inscribed “Snowdon / from Capel Cerig”

15r: blank

(f.15v) drawing of Snowdon from Capel Cerig, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT666)

16r: continuation of drawing on 15v

(f.16v) inscribed “Snowdon / from Capel Cerig [over “from Capel Cerig” in pencil]”

17r: drawing of Snowdon from Capel Cerig, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT667)

(f.17v) inscribed “Snowdon” and “from Capel Cerig” in pencil

18r: drawing of part of Conwy, in pencil, pen and grey ink, blue and grey washes (FT668)

(f.18v) inscribed “part of Conway” in pencil 

19r: drawing of Conwy Castle, in pencil, pen and grey ink (FT669)

(f.19v) inscribed “Conway Castle”

20r: drawing of part of Conwy Castle, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT670)

(f.20v) inscribed “Part of Conway Castle”

21r: drawing of Tremerton Castle and Hingston Hill, in pencil and watercolour (FT671)

(f.21v) inscribed “Tremerton Castle & / Hingston Hill” 

22r: drawing of Caradon Hill and Menheriott, near Liskeard, Cornwall, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT672)

(f.22v) inscribed “Caradon hill Cornwall & / the Cheese ring Menheriott”

23r: blank

(f.23v) drawing of St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall, in pencil, pen and grey and dark grey inks, and watercolour (FT673)

24r: continuation of drawing on 23v

(f.24v) inscribed “St. Michael’s Mount”

25r: drawing of a landscape with a farmer and cattle on a country road, in pencil, pen and grey ink, blue and grey washes (FT674)

(f.25v) blank 

26r: drawing of St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT675)

(f.26v) inscribed “St. Michael’s Mount”

27r: drawing of St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT676)

(f.27v) inscribed “St. Michael’s Mount”

28r: blank

(f.28v) drawing of St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall, pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour (FT677)

29r: continuation of drawing on 28v

(f.29v) inscribed “St. Michael’s Mount” (and “St Michaels Mount” in twentieth-century pen)

30r: drawing of a view near Holne Chase, Devon (on its side, the long edges of the sheet being upright in the composition), in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT678)

(f.30v) inscribed “near Holnes Chace Devonshire” in pencil

31r: drawing of a view near near Holne Chase, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT679)

(f.31v) inscribed “Near Holne Chase” in pencil (and “near Holm Chase, Devonshire (nr Ashburton)” in twentieth-century pen)

32r: drawing of the new bridge, Holne Chase, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT680)

(f.32v) inscribed “New Bridge Holne Chace” in pencil (and “Bridge, Holm Chase, S. Devon” in twentieth-century pen)

33r: drawing of a view near Holne Chase, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT681)

(f.33v) inscribed “Near Holne Chase” in pencil (and “near Holm Chase, S Devon” in twentieth-century pen)

34r: drawing of a view near Holne Chase, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT682)

(f.34v) inscribed “Near Holne Chase” in pencil

35r: drawing of a view near Holne Chase, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT683)

(f.35v) inscribed “Near Holne Chase” in pencil

36r: drawing of a view near Holne Chase, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT684)

(f.36v) inscribed “Near Holne Chase” in pencil

37r: inscribed top right, “37[the “7” over a “6”]”)

(f.37v) drawing of a view near Mrs Bastard’s new road, Buckland-in-the-Moor, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT685)

38r: continuation of drawing on 37v

(f.38v) inscribed “Near Mrs Bastard’s New Road. Buckland” in pencil

39r: drawing of a view on the new road, Buckland-in-the-Moor, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT686)

(f.39v) inscribed “In the New Road Buckland” in pencil

40r: blank

(f.40v) drawing near Mrs Bastard’s new road, Buckland-in-the-Moor, Devon, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT687)

41r: continuation of drawing on 40v

(f.41v) inscribed “Nr Mrs. Bastard’s new Road, Buckland” in pencil

42r: drawing going into Ugbrooke Park, Chudleigh, 11 October 1809, in pencil, pen and grey ink, and watercolour (FT688)

(f.42v) inscribed “Octr 11. 1809 at near Chudleigh going in to Ugbrook Park”

 

 

by Richard Stephens

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