- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Sutton Pool and Nunnery, Plymouth
- Date
- 1815/09/05
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image height 140mm,
- image width 229mm
- Support
- with stitch marks along the left edge
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “Plymouth Sutton Pool / and Nunnery”, numbered “17”, and dated “Septr 5th 1815 from ½ past 4 to 6 O’Clock”
- Part of
-
- 1815 Sketchbook
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- FT781
- Description Sources
- Christie'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 as part of a sketchbook containing FT765 to FT786, which they gave to their cousin Mary Ann Loveband (b.1865, alive in 1951), who sold the book to Agnew’s on 17 May 1938 for £60. On 19 January 1939 Agnew’s (no.2703) sold this drawing for £10 to D. Cuthbert, who (or whose heirs) sold it at Christie’s on 11 November 1958, lot 170 (in a pair with 772), for £130 the pair jointly to the Fine Art Society and Agnew’s (Agnew’s no.J9590, Fine Art Society no.6685). On 1 December 1958 they sold it for £140 to J. Hawkesley Elliott of Sheffield (d. ca. 1978), the Fine Art Society receiving its half share of £70 from Agnew’s on 20 May 1959. Elliot’s daughter sold it at Christie’s on 14 March 1978, lot 98, for £2,400 to Agnew’s. In 1978 it was acquired by the current owner, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (Inv. 1978.22).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth, 1978, Inv.1978.22
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 14 March 1978, GBP 2400
- Christie's, London, London, 14 March 1978, lot 98
- Joseph Hawksley Elliot (1884 - 1978), Sheffield, 1 December 1958, GBP 140
- The Fine Art Society, London, London, 11 November 1958, GBP 130, no.6685
Acquired jointly with Agnew's. - Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 11 November 1958, GBP 130, no.J9590
Acquired jointly with the Fine Art Society. - Christie's, London, London, 11 November 1958, lot 170
- D. Cuthbert, 19 January 1939, GBP 10
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 17 May 1938, GBP 60, no.2703
- Mary Ann Loveband (1865 - alive in 1951)
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915
Inherited as part of a sketchbook containing FT765 to FT786. - Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915
Inherited as part of a sketchbook containing FT765 to FT786. - John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
Other entries in 1815 Sketchbook
On the Road over the Moor to Tavistock
Maurice Dear
Fort Olda with Part of the Abbey, Tavistock
Footnotes
- 1 Donn 1965, pl.12a.
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Comment
Sutton Pool is a natural harbour around which the town of Plymouth was built. This is a view from Coxside (now Sutton Road) looking east to the spire of Charles Church.1 Towne’s “nunnery” is the medieval Carmelite friary built at the north-east corner of Sutton Pool.