- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- In the Villa Mondragone, Frascati
- Date
- 1781
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 223mm,
- image length 322mm
- Support
- paper watermarked indistinctly
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “No.59 / In the Villa Dragona / Frescati / Francis Towne / 1781”
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Catalogue Number
- FT289
- Description Sources
- Examination; Christie's 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 granddaughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), both of Oxford, inherited the drawing in May 1915 (BP21). Judith Merivale sold it to Squire Gallery in January 1936 for £4 10s. Thereafter it is untraced until its sale at Christie’s on 9 April 1991, lot 23. Either this or FT287 is the drawing Wilcox described in 1997 as being “in a London private collection”. On 3 November 1997 this drawing was bought by Spink, who sold it on 10 July 2001 for £6,200. It was bought there by a private collector who remained the owner in 2011.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Private Collection, 10 July 2001, GBP 6200
- Spink & Son, London, London, 3 November 1997
- Private Collection, London
- Christie's, London, London, 9 April 1991, lot 23
- Squire Gallery, London, January 1936, GBP 4.10s
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP21
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP21
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Bibliography
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 86
Other entries in Italy Series, April to June 1781
Thirteen Miles on the Road from Rome to Tivoli
A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent
A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
A View of the Spot from which Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
Monte Porzio Catone from the Park of the Villa Mondragone at Frascati
Blasted Pine Tree in the Villa Mondragone, Frascati
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Comment
Thumb marks at the bottom edge of the sheet suggest that the wash may have been applied on the spot, or otherwise hastily. The length of shadows suggests that this was a late afternoon view.