- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- The Tomb of the Plautii
- 'Tomb of Plautus', near Tivoli
- Date
- 1781
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour, gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 190mm,
- image length 245mm
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “F Towne delt 1781”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Tomb of Plautus / Near Tivoli / Francis Towne delt / 1781”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,2.13)
- Catalogue Number
- FT251
- Description Sources
- Examination; Museum records (image)
Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), who gave it to the present owner, the British Museum, London in 1816 (Nn,2.13).
- Associated People & Organisations
- British Museum, London, 1816, Nn,2.13
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- [?] Exhibition of Original Drawings at the Gallery, No.20 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, 20 Lower Brook Street, 1805, no. 148 as 'Tomb of Plautus near Tivoli'
- 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. 199
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 124
- Henri Lemaitre, Le Paysage Anglais a l'Aquarelle 1760-1951, Bordas: Paris, 1955, p. 156
Other entries in Italy Series, April to June 1781
Francis Towne
Thirteen Miles on the Road from Rome to Tivoli
Thirteen Miles on the Road from Rome to Tivoli
Francis Towne
A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent
A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent
Francis Towne
A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
Francis Towne
A View of the Spot from which Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
A View of the Spot from which Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
Francis Towne
Monte Porzio Catone from the Park of the Villa Mondragone at Frascati
Monte Porzio Catone from the Park of the Villa Mondragone at Frascati
Francis Towne
Blasted Pine Tree in the Villa Mondragone, Frascati
Blasted Pine Tree in the Villa Mondragone, Frascati
Footnotes
- 1 John “Warwick” Smith, The Tomb of the Plautii, late eighteenth/early nineteenth century (Witt Library); A. L. R. Ducros, The Tomb of the Plautii, ca. 1789 (Zutter 1998); G. B. Piranesi, The Tomb of the Plautii, ca. 1748–78 (Ficacci 2000).
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Comment
This is a view of Ponte Lucano and the Tomb of the Plautii on the Via Tiburtina as it crosses the River Aniene just west of Tivoli. The family tomb of Lucanus Plautius was fortified in the medieval era, resulting in a structure similar in appearance to the tomb of Cecilia Metella on the Via Appia Antica in Rome. The site was a popular tourist view depicted by many artists, including “Warwick” Smith, Ducros, and Piranesi.1
This drawing was probably exhibited at Towne’s 1805 exhibition and he perhaps reinforced it with fresh washes in anticipation of the show as it shows signs of late work.