- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- The banks of the Tiber
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and black, brown, and grey inks, watercolour with gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 453mm,
- image length 318mm
- Support
- laid paper watermarked with a design of a fleur de lis within a coronet, and with a horizontal crease across its centre
- Mount
- mounted by the artist on wove paper watermarked "J WHATMAN" within a border of two thin grey wash lines
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “No 54 / Rome / F.Towne. / delt 1781 [the year over an indistinct inscription, scratched out]”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Rome / No 54 / The Banks of the Tyber / drawn on the spot / by / Francis Towne / [“July 25th 1781” or “July 28th 1781” scratched out]”
- all smudged
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,1.24)
- Catalogue Number
- FT224
- Description Sources
- Author's examination of the object
Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1816), who gave it in 1816 to the present owner, the British Museum, London (Nn.1.24).
- Associated People & Organisations
- British Museum
- James White (1744 - 1825)
- Exhibition History
- unidentified exhibition, British Museum, 1934, no. 299
- Light, time, legacy: Francis Towne’s watercolours of Rome, British Museum, 2016
- Bibliography
- Laurence Binyon, Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists and Artists of Foreign Origin Working in Great Britain Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Trustees of the British Museum: London, 1907, p. 202
- Adrian Bury, 'Some Italian Views by Francis Towne', The Connoisseur, No. VLCII: London, 1938, p. 13
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 126
Other entries in Rome Series, October 1780–July 1781
Francis Towne
Two Miles from Rome going out at the Porta Pia
Two Miles from Rome going out at the Porta Pia
Francis Towne
Part of the Ancient Roman Wall between Porta Salara and Porta Pinciana
Part of the Ancient Roman Wall between Porta Salara and Porta Pinciana
Francis Towne
Two Miles from Rome, going out at Porta Salara
Two Miles from Rome, going out at Porta Salara
Francis Towne
Near the Arco Scuro, looking into the Villa Borghese
Near the Arco Scuro, looking into the Villa Borghese
Francis Towne
A Sepulchre by the Road between Rome and the Ponte Nomentana
A Sepulchre by the Road between Rome and the Ponte Nomentana
Francis Towne
The Old Wall of Rome at the back of the Villa Medici
The Old Wall of Rome at the back of the Villa Medici
Francis Towne
St Maria Nuova with the Temple of Venus and Rome
St Maria Nuova with the Temple of Venus and Rome
Francis Towne
The Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Fortuna Virilis
The Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Fortuna Virilis
Francis Towne
Going out from the Porta Pia, looking towards the Sabine Mountains
Going out from the Porta Pia, looking towards the Sabine Mountains
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Comment
This looks like the Tiber north of Rome, which Towne also featured in FT172, FT173, and FT174. Unusually for Towne’s Roman drawings, there is an element of human narrative here, with two men enjoying an afternoon by the river. It is as if Towne has placed it at the very end of the Roman series in order to indicate his departure from the city and to convey a wistful valediction.