- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Near the Arco Oscuro
- Date
- 1780/11/29
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and light and dark grey inks, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 471mm,
- image length 314mm
- Support
- laid paper with a horizontal crease along its centre
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower right
- “F.Towne. delt / Rome. Novr. 29. 1780 / No17”
- in brown ink
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “No.17 / Near the Arco Scuro [“Novr. 29. 1780” scratched out] / Rome Francis Towne delt.”
- in brown ink
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- indistinct
- in brown ink
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,2.23)
- Catalogue Number
- FT187
- Description Sources
- Author's examination of the object
Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), who gave it in 1816 to the present owner, the British Museum, London (Nn.2.23).
- Associated People & Organisations
- British Museum
- James White (1744 - 1825)
- Exhibition History
- [?] Exhibition of Original Drawings at the Gallery, No.20 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, 20 Lower Brook Street, 1805, no. 154, 155 or 156 as Near the Arco Oscuro
- unidentified exhibition, British Museum, 1934, no. 297
- unidentified exhibition, British Museum, 1981
- 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. 200
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 124
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, pp. 62, 67
Other entries in Rome Series, October 1780–July 1781
Francis Towne
Two Miles from Rome going out at the Porta Pia
Two Miles from Rome going out at the Porta Pia
Francis Towne
Part of the Ancient Roman Wall between Porta Salara and Porta Pinciana
Part of the Ancient Roman Wall between Porta Salara and Porta Pinciana
Francis Towne
Two Miles from Rome, going out at Porta Salara
Two Miles from Rome, going out at Porta Salara
Francis Towne
Near the Arco Scuro, looking into the Villa Borghese
Near the Arco Scuro, looking into the Villa Borghese
Francis Towne
A Sepulchre by the Road between Rome and the Ponte Nomentana
A Sepulchre by the Road between Rome and the Ponte Nomentana
Francis Towne
The Old Wall of Rome at the back of the Villa Medici
The Old Wall of Rome at the back of the Villa Medici
Francis Towne
St Maria Nuova with the Temple of Venus and Rome
St Maria Nuova with the Temple of Venus and Rome
Francis Towne
The Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Fortuna Virilis
The Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Fortuna Virilis
Francis Towne
Going out from the Porta Pia, looking towards the Sabine Mountains
Going out from the Porta Pia, looking towards the Sabine Mountains
Footnotes
- 1 No.80 in Hornsby 2002.
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Comment
This view is of an unidentified garden in the Arco Oscuro area near Villa Giulia. It gives Towne ample opportunity to show his ability to create decorative patterns through pen work. Nicolas-Didier Boguet drew a similar scene, more humble but with a downhill curve very reminiscent of this sketch.1 If the two drawings show the same view, then this is at the bottom of the Muro Torto (now called the Via di Vila Ruffo), with Villa Giulia somewhat behind and to the right of Towne.