Watercolourist, b. London, trained in London as a coach painter before attending St Martin's Lane Academy, later (from c. 1764) lived in Exeter, where was a drawing master, although he spent late spring and summer in London every year and exhibited regularly at the RA and later at the British Institution; returned to London in 1807?.
There has been confusion about his date and place of birth, which was resolved by Richard Stephens:[fn]Richard Stephens, 'New Material for Francis Towne's Biography', The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 138, No. 1121 (Aug., 1996), pp. 500-505[/fn] 'Far from being a native of Devon, Towne was from Isleworth in Middlesex, eight miles west of London. His father, William Towne, was a cornchandler, whose wife was called Lydia. Francis was baptised at All Saints', Isleworth, on 19th August 1739, and seems to have been the youngest child of the family.'
Figure 1.
John Downman, Study for a portrait of Mr Francis Towne of Exeter, Landscape Painter, charcoal, touched with red chalk and heightened with white, 1795
Digital image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum.
Related works
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1759 Society of Arts Premium Drawing
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A Piece of Flowers
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A large Landscape, with a Scene in Shakespeare’s Cymberline
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A Waterfall
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A Landscape
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View of a Mill at Werrington, Devonshire
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A Landscape
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A Landscape after Nature
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A large Landscape
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A small Landscape
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A View near Exeter
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A View near Exeter
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A View near Exeter
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A large Landscape
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A small Landscape
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Landscape
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A View of Exeter
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Landscape, perhaps at Ugbrooke
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Ugbrooke
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Landscape
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A small Landscape
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A View of Berry Pomeroy Castle within the Gateway
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Ivy Bridge in Devon
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A View in Ugbrooke Park
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A View of Ugbrooke Park
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Church of St Petroc, Egloshayle, near Wadebridge, Cornwall
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Bridge over the River Camel at Wadebridge, Cornwall
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A Quarry in Peamore Park
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The Wrekin in Shropshire going off of a storm
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Conwy Castle
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The Ruins of the Great Room in Ludlow Castle, Shopshire, where Milton’s Comus was Performed
Francis Towne
The Ruins of the Great Room in Ludlow Castle, Shopshire, where Milton’s Comus was Performed
Favourite -
A View near Exwell, looking towards Topsham
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A View at Pynes
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A View on the River Exe, taken near the Seat of Sir Francis Drake, Devonshire
Francis Towne
A View on the River Exe, taken near the Seat of Sir Francis Drake, Devonshire
Favourite -
Torre Abbey, Torquay
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Haldon Hall
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On the river Teign, Devonshire
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A View taken at Geneva where the Rhone comes from the Lake under the Bridge
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A View at Geneva near where the Arve falls into the Rhone
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Aiguebelle in Savoy
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Yanaise in Savoy
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Augustus’s Bridge at Rimini
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Inside the Colosseum
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A View on the Banks of the Tiber
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On the Banks of the Tiber near Ponte Molle
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On the Banks of the Tiber near Ponte Molle
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Two Miles from Rome going out at the Porta Pia
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Part of the Ancient Roman Wall between Porta Salara and Porta Pinciana
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Temple of Bacchus in the Distance
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Temple of Bacchus Two Miles from Rome
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Two Miles from Rome, going out at Porta Salara
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A View from Martinelli's Vineyard
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Inside the Colosseum
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Inside the Colosseum
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From the Palatine Hill
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Near the Arco Oscuro
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Near the Arco Oscuro
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Inside the Colosseum
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Near the Arco Oscuro
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Near the Arco Scuro, looking into the Villa Borghese
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Going into the Villa Ludovisi
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A Sepulchre by the Road between Rome and the Ponte Nomentana
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Inside the Colosseum
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Inside the Colosseum
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The Colosseum
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The Palatine Hill
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Inside the Colosseum
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On the Palatine Hill
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On the Palatine Hill
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Part of the Palatine Hill
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The Claudian Aqueduct
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The Palatine Hill
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Part of the Baths of Titus
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The Baths of Caracalla
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The Baths of Caracalla
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The Old Wall of Rome at the back of the Villa Medici
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The Baths of Caracalla
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Baths of Titus
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Near the Arco Oscuro
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The Frascati Hills
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A view on the Palatine Hill
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St Peter’s from above the Arco Oscuro
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St Maria Nuova with the Temple of Venus and Rome
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The Tarpeian Rock
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The Temple of Concord
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The Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Fortuna Virilis
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The Temple of Minerva Medica
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Ponte Molle
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The Temple of Romulus
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The Arch of Septimus Severus
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The Forum
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In the Villa Barberini
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In the Villa Barberini
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The banks of the Tiber
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The Grotto of Posillipo
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Coming down from Capodimonte
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Naples
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Convent of S. Eframo Vecchio
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Santa Maria a Monte
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The Bay of Naples
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The Tomb of the Plautii
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Tivoli
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Tivoli
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The Grand Cascade, Tivoli
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Landscape Fragment
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The Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli
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Tivoli
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A View of Tivoli
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Tivoli above the Fall of the Anio
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Tivoli
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Tree Study
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A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent
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Monte Porzio Catone from the Park of the Villa Mondragone at Frascati
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Lake Nemi
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Lake Albano
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Arricia
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Civita Castellana
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The Cascade of Terni
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Looking towards the mountains of Florence
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Bologna from St. Michele in Bosco
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On the Lake of Lugano
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Lake Como
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Towards the head of the Lake of Como
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Towards the head of the Lake of Como
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Towards the head of the Lake of Como
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Walensee
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L'Aiguille
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The Town and Lake of Lugano
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Lake Maggiore
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The City and Lake of Como
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A View of Domaso on Lake Como
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Near the Source of the Rhine
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Head of Lake Geneva
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On Lake Geneva towards Savoy
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On Lake Geneva towards Savoy
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Chateau de Blonay near Vevey, at the Head of Lake Geneva
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A View taken above Lausanne looking over Lake Geneva
Francis Towne
A View taken above Lausanne looking over Lake Geneva
Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum
Favourite -
Mont Blanc
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Convent of S. Eframo Vecchio
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View from Sessa Aurunca
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Near the Arco Scuro
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Elterwater
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Near the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
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Landscape with Ruin
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Near Glarus
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The Ruins of La Bathia, near Martigny, Switzerland
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View taken on the Lake of Como
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A View in Neptune’s Grotto of the Sybil’s Temple at Tivoli
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A View of St. Peter’s, Rome
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A Landscape
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Temple of Peace, Rome
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Fall of the Cayne, North Wales
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Exeter
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View of the Passage over Mount Splugen in the Alps
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Mont Blanc
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A Landscape and Figures
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Landscape with Jacob and Laban
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View near the Chateau de Chillon at the Head of Lake Geneva
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A Farm near Henley-on-Thames
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View of the Falls of the Cayne
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View near Exeter
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Landscape Composition
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Landscape Composition
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Landscape Composition
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Landscape Composition
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Temple of Hercules Victor, Tivoli, after Richard Wilson
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Netley Abbey
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Italianate Landscape
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Landscape with Hermit
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Snowdon
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Italian scene
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Classical Ruins
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View in Cumberland
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Geneva
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Sketch, Wales?
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On the Road from Radnor
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A Wood and Rocky Scene
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A Woodland Glade
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Cliff Scene
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