- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- The Arch of Septimus Severus
- Date
- 1781/07/18
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 322mm,
- image length 719mm
- Support
- two sheets watermarked with a fleur de lis and coronet design
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “No49 / F.Towne / July.18.1781” and, background left on building, “white”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Rome / No.49 Arcus Septimis Severi / [“July [. . .] th[. . .]” scratched out] / Francis Towne / In almost a direct line from the Coloseo & and the arch of Constantine / you go under the arch of Titus over the Campus Vaccinus to the / capitol this way leads you through the Triumphal Arch of / Septimus Severus & Marcus Aurelius which is situated / near the back front of the Capitol; it consists of three / arches composed of Grecian Marble”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,3.10)
- Catalogue Number
- FT219
- 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 1818 to the present owner, the British Museum, London (Nn,3.10).
- 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. 185 as 'Arch of Septimus Severus, in the Forum, with the Temple of Concord, near the back front of the Capitol'
- 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. 203
- Thomas Ashby, Forty drawings of Roman scenes by British artists (1715-1850) from originals in the British Museum, British Museum: London, 1911, p. 13
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 88, 127
- Martin Hardie, Water-Colour Painting in Britain, ed. Dudley Snelgrove, London: B. T. Batsford, 1966, p. 121
- Paul Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', The Walpole Society: London, 1920, p. 113
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 80
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 Arch of Septimus (now Septimius) Severus is at the northern edge of the Forum, below the Capitol, steps leading to which are visible at the right edge of the drawing (see also FT214). Towne’s view was much used by artists of the time, with versions known by John “Warwick” Smith (British Museum) and William Pars (Fitzwilliam Musuem), Louis Ducros and Piranesi.
The left sheet is much looser and less finished than the right, as is also the case in FT175.