- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View of Derwent Water
- Date
- ca. 1786/08
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, watercolour, gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 207mm,
- image length 227mm
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “F.Towne. delt / 1786”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Morning sun from the left hand / A view of Keswick Lake looking towards the head / drawn on the spot by Francis Towne”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- FT505
- 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 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, owner, Leeds City Art Gallery (13.207/53).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds, 1953, 13.207/53
- Norman Darnton Lupton (1875 - 1953)
- Agnes Lupton (1874 - 1950), 1923
- 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. 74 as 'A View of Keswick Lake'
- unidentified exhibition, 1949, no. 48
- An Exhibition of English Drawings and Water Colours from British Collections, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1962, no. 80
- The Lupton Collection, Leeds City Art Gallery, 1972, no. 78
- The Discovery of the Lake District, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1984, no. 93
- Derwentwater: Vale of Elysium, Wordsworth Museum, 1986, no. 96
- Still Waters... Watercolours from Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds City Art Gallery, 1995, no. 13
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 103, 132
- Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds Arts Calendar: A quarterly review issued by the Leeds City Art Gallery & Temple Newsham House, No. 25: Leeds, 1953, p. 8
- Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds Art Calendar, No. 26: Leeds, 1954, p. 11
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 127
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 S. Middiman(?) after T. Smith, Derwent Water, ca. 1784 (Cumbria County Council Local Studies Libraries and Record Offices).
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Comment
Derwent Water is just west of Keswick. It was the main focus of interest for visitors to the northern part of the Lake District. Towne was very active in this area, making drawings at Lodore Falls (FT508), the Bowder Stone (FT509, FT510), Grange, and Borrowdale (FT500, FT501, FT502, FT513).
This is one of three views of Derwent Water Towne made on this paper. This and FT506 look south to Lodore Falls, following the standard view from Crow Park or thereabouts, for example as published in 1784.1 A third (FT507), on two sheets, is near Lodore looking north.