- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
- The Vale of St. John, in Cumberland
- The Vale of St John
- Date
- 1786/08/17
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour with gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 156mm,
- image length 337mm
- Support
- two sheets
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “F.Towne. delt.1786”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “No36 / 5 O Clock in the afternoon / light from the left hand / A View taken in the Vale of St. John looking towards Keswick / in Cumberland August 17, 1786 / by / Francis Towne”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- FT492
- Description Sources
- Examination; 1995 Leeds catalogue (image)
Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist 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 granddaughter Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853–1923) inherited the drawing in 1915 and bequeathed it to her sister Frances Ann Laura Solly (b.1858). Later it was owned by Agnes Lupton (1874–1950) and Norman Darnton Lupton (1875–1953) of Hyde Crook, Dorchester, Dorset, who bequeathed it to the current owner, Leeds City Art Gallery (13.208/53).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds, 1953, 13.208/53
- Norman Darnton Lupton (1875 - 1953), Dorchester
- Agnes Lupton (1874 - 1950), Dorchester
- Frances Ann Laura Solly (1858 - alive in 1932), 1923
- Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853 - 1923), 1915
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- 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. 63, 64, or 65 as 'The Vale of St. John, in Cumberland', or 88 as 'The Vale of St John'
- unidentified exhibition - possibly Art in the Georgian Home, Arts Council, 1949, no. 4
- L'Aquarelle anglaise 1750-1850, [organised by the British Council at] Musee Rath, Geneva; L'Ecole Polytechnique Federale, Zurich, 1955, no. 113
- English Landscape Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries, Tokyo and Kyoto, 1970, no. 89
- unidentified exhibition, 1972
- Still Waters... Watercolours from Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds City Art Gallery, 1995, no. 12
- Francis Towne, Tate Gallery; Leeds City Art Gallery, 24 June 1997 - 4 January 1998, no. 54
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 45, 103, 131
- Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds Art Calendar, No. 26: Leeds, 1954, p. 11
- Paul Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', The Walpole Society: London, 1920, p. 121
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, pp. 119-120
Other entries in Lake District, 1786
Francis Towne
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
Francis Towne
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
Francis Towne
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Francis Towne
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
Francis Towne
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
Francis Towne
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
Francis Towne
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
Francis Towne
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
Francis Towne
Elter Force, near Ambleside
Elter Force, near Ambleside
National Gallery National Gallery of Victoria
Footnotes
- 1 Wilcox 1997, pp.119–20.
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Comment
This is a view just north of Thirlmere looking north into St John’s in the Vale, with Towne perhaps standing on Great How, at the top end of Thirlmere, near the site of FT487. The main road from Ambleside to Keswick is visible on the valley floor. Blencathra is in the far distance and Castle Rock is the protrusion on the right.
Wilcox notes that, as three hours separate this drawing and FT489, Towne must have retreated up the valley to sketch this view, attracted by the play of light on the distant mountain ridges.1