- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- The Baths of Caracalla
- Date
- 1781
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown ink, grey/brown wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 474mm,
- image length 320mm
- Support
- laid paper, with a horizontal crease across its centre, and watermarked with a design of a shield and fleur de lys, with the letters "GR"
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “Rome No.36 / Baths of Caracalla light from the right hand / 1781 / Francis Towne”
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- FT206
- Description Sources
- Author's examination of the object
Notebooks and papers of Paul Oppé (1878-1957), private collection
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 (BP25). Judith Merivale sold it in April 1930 for £8 to Norman Darnton Lupton (1875–1953) of Hyde Crook, Dorchester, Dorset. Agnes Lupton (1874–1950) and Norman Lupton bequeathed it to the present owner, Leeds City Art Gallery (13.210/53).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Leeds City Art Gallery
- Agnes Lupton (1874 - 1950)
- Norman Darnton Lupton (1875 - 1953)
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844)
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945)
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928)
- James White (1744 - 1825)
- Exhibition History
- The Lupton Collection, Leeds City Art Gallery, 1972, no. 80
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 76, 131
- Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds Art Calendar, No. 26: Leeds, 1954, no. 26
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 69
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 Paul Oppé records: notes, ca. 1915.
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Comment
Paul Oppé’s note of this drawing reads: “25 Same size [as FT292 and FT293] Fleur de lys in sheild G.R. No date. Caracalla in loose ind ink only. Very faint pen(?) outline. Outlined clouds.”1
This is one of four drawings of the Baths of the Caracalla (the others are FT202, FT203, FT205) and the only one that Towne did not colour and mount, and therefore James White did not donate it to the British Museum. The round tower at the left of the drawing is the fortified tomb of Cecilia Metella.