- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- On the Palatine Hill
- On the Palatine Mount
- Ruins and buildings on the Palatine
- Date
- 1781/02/05
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour with gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 319mm,
- image length 471mm
- Support
- laid paper
- Mount
- mounted by the artist with paper watermarked "J WHATMAN"
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “F.Towne. del / Rome No26. 1781”
- in brown ink
- Inscription
-
- verso
- indistinct
- in brown ink
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “No.26 / On Mount Palatine Febry 5 1781 [the date in dark brown ink over an identical date that has been scratched out] / Rome. Francis Towne. delt.”
- in brown ink
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,2.32)
- Catalogue Number
- FT196
- Description Sources
- Examination; Museum records (image)
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.2.32).
- 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. 174, 175, 176, 177 or 178 as 'On the Palatine Mount'
- 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. 125
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
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Comment
The precise location of this view is uncertain, although just possibly the building in the mid-ground is the Church of S. Sebastiano, in which case the ruin on the left would be the Domus Augustana. The tree in the middle looks rather out of place and was perhaps added much later than 1781. There is little pen work in this drawing, in contrast to many others of the Roman series. The tall tree is indicated with brush strokes characteristic of Towne’s watercolour technique of the later 1780s and 1790s (for example FT560, FT591).