- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
- Date
- 1786/08/08
- Medium
- Pencil (?), pen and ink, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 267mm,
- image length 381mm
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “F. Towne delt 1786”r left "F. Towne delt 1786"verso of the artist's mount: "No.6 A view of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall, Ambleside in Westmoland, drawn by Francis Towne, August 8th 1786. Mounted August 2nd 1790 Leicester Square"
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “No.6 A view of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall, Ambleside in Westmoland, drawn by Francis Towne, August 8th 1786. Mounted August 2nd 1790 Leicester Square”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (WA/CO22)
- Catalogue Number
- FT520a
- Description Sources
- Museum records (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 sold it on 17 June 1921 to Agnew’s (no.10020) for £40, where it was bought the same day by J. F. Walmsley for £55. On 29 July 1921 Walmsley sold it back to Agnew’s (no.10064), where it was bought the same day for £55 by the current owner, Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum (WA/CO22).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Burnley, 29 July 1921, GBP 55, WA/CO22
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 29 July 1921, no.10064
- J. F. Walmsley, 17 June 1921, GBP 55
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 17 June 1921, GBP 40, no.10020
- Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853 - 1923), 1915
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 138
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
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Comment
This is a view of Rydal Water from the west, with the road between Ambleside and Keswick prominent on the left. The white exterior of the Cote How building is visible in the centre distance, a little set back from the water’s edge; Rydal Hall, though mentioned by Towne in the inscription, is not visible. Much the same view is visible in FT520, dated 11 August. Thomas Sunderland drew the same view in ca. 1798 (exhibited by Guy Peppiatt in 2007, no.21).
This is the only numbered drawing known to have been made on the large paper that, as Towne noted elsewhere (for example FT515), he had purchased in Rome some years earlier—although a view of Borrowdale Chapel, on a somewhat smaller sheet, is numbered 7 (FT513a) and may form part of the same series. It may be no more than a coincidence that, while the main Lake District series, numbered between 1 and 40, survives almost in its entirety, number 6 is missing, and the adjacent drawings in the series depict views at Rydal Park and Rydal Water. Perhaps, therefore, Towne contemplated making this larger drawing part of the series.