- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Monastery of Sant’Antonio, Tivoli
- Date
- 1781/05/21
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and ink, grey wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 375mm,
- image length 247mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “Tivoli”, numbered “28”, and dated 21 May
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Catalogue Number
- FT265
- Description Sources
- Agnew'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 (BP11). On 23 September 1935 (the Barton Place catalogue states January 1936) Judith Merivale sold the drawing to Agnew’s (no.1789) for £8 (where, however, it was entered as “Tivoli No.11”; see FT254). On 20? September 1935 Agnew’s sold the drawing for £12 to the wife of Sir Roger Birley (1903–1982), who sold it on 9 April 1979 back to Agnew’s (no.6575), where it was bought on 21 January 1980 by a private collector (also 249), whereafter it is untraced (the collector died in 1997).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Untraced
- Private Collection, 21 January 1980
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 9 April 1979, no.6575
- Sir Roger Birley (1903 - 1982), 20 September 1935, GBP 12
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 23 September 1935, GBP 8, it was entered as “Tivoli No.11”
Barton Place catalogue states January 1936 - Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP11
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP11
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- 107th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, Agnew, 1980, no. 17
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
This is a view of the monastery of Sant’Antonio near Tivoli, according to the inscription, “Tivoli. Convent of St. Antonio. / F.T. JWA.”, on the copy John White Abbott made of the work (FT818). The two figures on the right appear to be dressed as monks. The broader setting of the monastery is clear from a Thomas Jones drawing (fig.267a) in which the buildings are featured on the far right. Towne’s viewpoint is on a road leading to Tivoli, a little above his position at FT261 and very near FT267. The tree in the left foreground of this picture looks very similar to the one in the right foreground in FT267 and, supposing either to be a representation of an actual tree, may be the same one.