- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Rydal Water looking towards Grasmere
- Date
- 1786
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour, gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 298mm,
- image length 564mm
- Support
- five sheets
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower centre
- “F.Towne / delt 1786”
- in brown ink
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Rydal Water looking towards Grasmere Westmoreland / Drawn on the spot by Francis Towne / [“August 11th. 1786” scratched out] ½ past 7 O clock / The sky a Clear warm light / mountains a solemn purple tint / the Lake reflecting the sky, the / Sun in the picture”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- FT520
- Description Sources
- Examination
Provenance
Untraced until bequeathed by Robert Wylie Lloyd (1868–1958) to the current owner, the British Museum (1958.7.12.386). Quite possibly it is BP146 Rydal Water sold in August 1936 or February 1937 by Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945) to Squire Gallery for £23 2s. This drawing may well be the otherwise untraced Rydal Water that Wilcox mentions as having been sold at Christie’s on 14 August 1942 and measuring 11 x 22¼ in. (279 x 565 mm).
- Associated People & Organisations
- British Museum, London, 1958, 1958,0712.386
- Robert Wylie Lloyd (1868 - 1958)
- Christie's, London, London, 14 August 1942
- [?] Squire Gallery, London, GBP 23 2s
- [?] Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP146
- Exhibition History
- [?] Exhibition of Original Drawings at the Gallery, No.20 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, 20 Lower Brook Street, 1805, no. 68, 76 or 90 as 'Rydal Water'
- Light, time, legacy: Francis Towne’s watercolours of Rome, British Museum, 2016
- Bibliography
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 112
Other entries in Lake District, 1786
Francis Towne
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
Francis Towne
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
Francis Towne
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Francis Towne
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
Francis Towne
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
Francis Towne
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
Francis Towne
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
Francis Towne
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
Francis Towne
Elter Force, near Ambleside
Elter Force, near Ambleside
National Gallery National Gallery of Victoria
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.
Comment
This is a view of Rydal Water with Silver How, the mountain on the western shore of Grasmere, prominent in the central distance. Towne made two other drawings of this mountain (FT520a, FT521) from somewhat different viewpoints.
Towne has used brown ink only on the two largest sheets and there is no gum on the two smallest sheets.