Description
Creator
Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
Title(s)
  • Going to Vicovaro
Date
1781/04/22
Medium
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey/brown and blue washes
Dimensions
  • image width 232mm,
  • image length 321mm
Support
paper watermarked "J WHATMAN"
Inscription
  • verso
  • “Going to / Castello Madamo Vicavasso / No.5 / April 22d. 1781 / Sun on the left hand setting behind the extreme distance / Francis Towne”
Object Type
Monochrome wash

Catalogue Number
FT249
Description Sources
Agnew's records (image); Christie's records

Provenance

Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), on whose death it passed to Towne’s residuaty legatee John Herman Merivale (1779–1844) and his successors. Merivale’s granddaughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), both of Oxford, inherited the drawing in May 1915 (BP7). Judith Merivale sold it in August 1933 to Emily Norrie (perhaps 1891–1973) of Pequot Avenue, New London, Connecticut, for £20. It was sold at Sotheby’s, New York, on 21 April 1971, lot 184, for $400 to Agnew’s (no.0596), who sold it on 15 January 1973 to a private collector (also FT265). It is thereafter untraced apart from its sale at Christie’s, London, on 11 November 1997, lot 53, probably by the collector’s estate. Now in the collection of Winchester College.

Associated People & Organisations

Winchester College, 2016
Christie's, London, London, 11 November 1997, lot 53
Private Collection, 15 January 1973
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 21 April 1971, USD 400, no.0596
Sotheby's, London, New York, 21 April 1971, lot 184
Emily Norrie (1891 - 1973), New London, Connecticut, August 1933, GBP 20
Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP7
Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP7
John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
Exhibition History
100th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1973, no. 27

Comment

Vicovaro is a few miles east of Castello Madamo on the Via Tiburtina. It is at the southern end of the Licenza valley.

by Richard Stephens

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