- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- The Colosseum
- Date
- 1799
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 310mm,
- image length 465mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “F.Towne / 1799”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Rome The Coloseo, with the Baths of Titus, & Arch of Constantine, taken from the Palatine Mount. Francis Towne delt 1799”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (P96)
- Versions
- The Colosseum
- Catalogue Number
- FT602
- Description Sources
- Examination; Museum records; 1998 Royal Academy catalogue (image)
Provenance
Probably commissioned by Arthur Harington Champernowne (1768–1819), whose great-great-granddaughter Katharine Iris Paull of Chichester sold it at Sotheby’s on 30 July 1952, lot 14, for £200 to Agnew’s (no.6969), from whom on 4 December 1952 it was bought for £240 by the present owner, the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford (P96).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Higgins Bedford, Bedford, 4 December 1952, GBP 240, P96
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 30 July 1952, GBP 200, no.6969
- Sotheby's, London, London, 30 July 1952, lot 14
- Katharine Iris Paull, Chichester
- [?] Arthur Harington Champernowne (1768 - 1819), 1799
- Exhibition History
- English Watercolours from the Hickman Bacon and other Collections, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, 1952, no. 70
- English Watercolours, 1750-1850, Norwich Castle Museum, 1955, no. 16
- Watercolours and Drawings from the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1962, no. 14
- Primitives to Picasso, Royal Academy, 1962, no. 362
- Watercolours from Bedford, Castle Museum, 1965, no. 56
- English Watercolours from the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Reading Museum and Art Gallery, 1965, no. 53
- Art Treasures of England: The Regional Collections, Royal Academy, 1998, no. 212
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, The Cecil Higgins Museum Bedford, ed. Adrian Bury: London, 1961, p. 35
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 103, 138
- Evelyn Joll, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery Watercolours and Drawings, Trustees of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery: Bedford, 2002, p. 264
Other entries in Studio Watercolours, 1783–1800
Francis Towne
Much Wenlock, Shropshire, with the Ruins of the Priory Church
Much Wenlock, Shropshire, with the Ruins of the Priory Church
Francis Towne
The Wrekin, on the Road between Much Wenlock and Shrewsbury
The Wrekin, on the Road between Much Wenlock and Shrewsbury
Francis Towne
A View going from the Head of Lake Como over Mount Splugen
A View going from the Head of Lake Como over Mount Splugen
Francis Towne
The Campagna near Rome looking towards the Sabine Mountains
The Campagna near Rome looking towards the Sabine Mountains
Francis Towne
A View of Loreto with Part of the Adriatic Sea
A View of Loreto with Part of the Adriatic Sea
Francis Towne
A View near the Arco Scuro Looking towards the Villa Medici
A View near the Arco Scuro Looking towards the Villa Medici
Francis Towne
An Evening View from Mount Palatine looking towards Mount Aventine
An Evening View from Mount Palatine looking towards Mount Aventine
Francis Towne
A View on the Banks of the Tiber near Monte Milvio
A View on the Banks of the Tiber near Monte Milvio
Francis Towne
A View of the Temple of Venus looking towards the Island of Nisida
A View of the Temple of Venus looking towards the Island of Nisida
Francis Towne
Chateau de Glerolles, near Vevey on Lake Geneva
Chateau de Glerolles, near Vevey on Lake Geneva
Francis Towne
Abbey Valley Crucis, near Llangollen on the River Dee, North Wales
Abbey Valley Crucis, near Llangollen on the River Dee, North Wales
Francis Towne
A View on the Banks of the Dee above Llangollen
A View on the Banks of the Dee above Llangollen
Francis Towne
A View of the Bay of Naples with the Island of Capri
A View of the Bay of Naples with the Island of Capri
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Comment
This is a copy of FT193 but with colouring and weak pen line that begin to betray its late date. Nonetheless the closeness to the original—the retention, for instance, of penlines—is notable. John “Warwick” Smith made a very similar view that was engraved for his publication, Select Views.
This is one of several Towne drawings that were sold by the Champernowne family early in the twentieth century.