- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View of Lake Lugano taken from Mendrisio
- Date
- ca. 1781/08/24
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown ink, grey-brown wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 276mm,
- image length 454mm
- Support
- paper with partial visible watermark C...[&I HONIG]
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “No.3 / A View of the lake of Lugano taken from Mendris / August 24th. 1781 / Porto the Towne / light from the right hand / Francis Towne”
- in brown ink, upside down in relation to the drawing
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Catalogue Number
- FT344
- Description Sources
- Examination; Christie's records (image)
Provenance
Untraced until acquired before 1904 by Herbert Horne (1864–1916), who sold it that year to Sir Edward Marsh (1872–1953). The details of its acquisition by Horne are unknown, but he was collecting English drawings as early as 1891, according to Sir Brinsley Ford’s obituary of Paul Oppé (Burlington Magazine, 1957). This work was purchased from Spink in January 1947 for £80 by Sir William Worsley, Bt (1890–1973). It was offered it for sale at Christie’s on 5 June 2003, lot 40, where it did not sell.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Private Collection
- Christie's, London, London, 5 June 2003, lot 40
Unsold - Sir William Worsley (1890 - 1973), January 1947, GBP 80
- Spink & Son, London, London
- Sir Edward Marsh, 1904
- Herbert Horne
- Exhibition History
- Exhibition of the Herbert Horne Collection of Drawings with special reference to the works of Alexander Cozens, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1916, no. 65
- unidentified exhibition, Institute of Art Research, 1929
- British Art, Royal Academy, 1934
- British Drawings, 1935
- Watercolours by Francis Towne, City Art Gallery, 1950, no. 19
- Early English Water Colours, Leeds City Art Gallery, 8 October 1958 to 23 November 1958, no. 95
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 142
- Paul Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', The Walpole Society: London, 1920, p. 116
- Sir William Worsley, Early English Water-Colours at Hovingham Hall: 1963, p. 10
Other entries in C&I Honig Series: Northern Italy and Switzerland, August and September 1781
Francis Towne
“Lago Torfi”, near Lugano
“Lago Torfi”, near Lugano
National Gallery National Gallery of Victoria
Francis Towne
Waterfall between Chiavenna and Mount Splugen
Waterfall between Chiavenna and Mount Splugen
Francis Towne
In the Valley of the Grisons looking on Tusis
In the Valley of the Grisons looking on Tusis
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Comment
Mendrisio is halfway between Lakes Lugano and Como. The Worsley catalogue mistakenly states that this drawing is dated 1 September.