- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Lake Nemi
- The lake of Nemi
- Date
- 1781
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 395mm,
- image length 509mm
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower right
- “No.64 / Lake of Nemi / Francis Towne delt / 1781.”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “No.64 Italy / Lake of Nemi / Francis Towne delt / 1781 / Mounted / June 1811.”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,3.4)
- Catalogue Number
- FT291
- Description Sources
- Examination; Wilcox 1997 (image)
Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), who gave it in 1818 to the present owner, the British Museum (Nn,3.4).
- Associated People & Organisations
- British Museum, London, 1818, Nn,3.4
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- unidentified exhibition, British Museum, 1981
- Travels in Italy 1776-1783 based on the Memoirs of Thomas Jones, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 1988, no. 68
- Francis Towne, Tate Gallery; Leeds City Art Gallery, 24 June 1997 - 4 January 1998, no. 34
- Light, time, legacy: Francis Towne’s watercolours of Rome, British Museum, 2016
- Bibliography
- Laurence Binyon, Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists and Artists of Foreign Origin Working in Great Britain Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Trustees of the British Museum: London, 1907, p. 202
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 80, 111, 127
- Paul Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', The Walpole Society: London, 1920, p. 112
Other entries in Italy Series, April to June 1781
Francis Towne
Thirteen Miles on the Road from Rome to Tivoli
Thirteen Miles on the Road from Rome to Tivoli
Francis Towne
A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent
A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent
Francis Towne
A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
Francis Towne
A View of the Spot from which Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
A View of the Spot from which Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
Francis Towne
Monte Porzio Catone from the Park of the Villa Mondragone at Frascati
Monte Porzio Catone from the Park of the Villa Mondragone at Frascati
Francis Towne
Blasted Pine Tree in the Villa Mondragone, Frascati
Blasted Pine Tree in the Villa Mondragone, Frascati
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Comment
This is a view looking east, with the town of Nemi on the left and Gensano on the far right. The view was much depicted by artists of Towne’s time, including John Robert Cozens, who made seven versions. As with Towne’s views of Frascati (FT285, FT286, FT287, FT288, FT289, FT290), the evidence of Towne’s fingermarks suggests that the washes in this sketch were applied on the spot. Towne’s inscription shows that it was mounted very late (see also FT203, FT257), although the drawing itself appears untouched.