Description
Creator
Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
Title(s)
  • Landscape with cottage
  • A Village Scene watercolour
  • Trees & Cottage
Date
ca. 1775 - 1785
Medium
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash
Dimensions
  • image width 203mm,
  • image length 152mm
Support
the paper has a vertical tear or fold on its right side
Inscription
  • sheet, recto
  • on the far left wall, “stone light yellow”; on the thatched roof, “light brown”; and on the upper right, “gable stone”
  • all in pencil
Inscription
  • sheet, verso
  • signed with the initials “FT” or else “Francis Towne”
Object Type
Monochrome wash

Catalogue Number
FT389
Description Sources
Christie's records (image)

Provenance

This drawing had a Merivale provenance, as demonstrated by the inscription (not in Towne’s hand) of the words “Rose Merivale” on the verso. Rose Merivale is probably John Herman Merivale’s daughter Rose Mary Merivale (b.1823, alive 1901). This drawing may well have been among those inherited by Judith Merivale (BP254, Trees & Cottage) and is probably also the drawing, given the same title, which was on sale at Squire Gallery in 1938. It is surely also the drawing described by Colnaghi (no.A.12045) as “A Village Scene watercolour”, which they bought from R. C. Rudolf on 14 October 1943 and sold to “A J Elliott” for £12 on 18 June 1945—surely J. Hawkesley Elliott of Sheffield (1884–1978), for his daughter sold it at Christie’s on 14 March 1978, lot 90, for £220 to Davis or Daves, whereafter it is untraced.

Associated People & Organisations

Untraced
Davis/Daves, 14 March 1978, GBP 220
Christie's, London, London, 14 March 1978, lot 90
[?] Joseph Hawksley Elliot (1884 - 1978), Sheffield, 18 June 1945, GBP 12
[?] P&D Colnaghi & Co, London, London, 14 October 1943, no.A.12045
R. C. Rudolf, 1943
[?] Squire Gallery, London, 1938
Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP254
Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP254
Rose Mary Merivale (1823 - 1902)
John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
Exhibition History
Three Exeter Artists of the Eighteenth Century: Francis Hayman RA, Francis Towne, John White Abbott, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 1951, no. 31

Comment

The sharpness and confidence of the pen work date the drawing to the period from the late 1770s to the mid-1780s, and the description of the stonework is similar to FT388 and FT466. The location of these buildings is unknown.

by Richard Stephens

Revisions & Feedback

The website will be updated from time to time and, when changes are made, a PDF of the previous version of each page will be archived here for consultation and citation.

Please help us to improve this catalogue


If you have information, a correction or any other suggestions to improve this catalogue, please contact us.