- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- The Forum
- Date
- 1781
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and black and brown inks, watercolour with gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 324mm,
- image length 591mm
- Support
- two sheets, the larger of which is watermarked with a fleur de lis and coronet design and which has a vertical crease down its centre
- Mount
- mounted by the artist on paper watermarked "WHATMAN 1794"
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “F.Towne delt. / Rome. 1781. No.51”
- in brown ink
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,3.15)
- Catalogue Number
- FT221
- 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,3.15).
- 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. 186 as 'The Forum'
- 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
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 128
- 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
This south-east view of the Forum had for generations been the most popular position from which to depict the site. Among Towne’s circle both John “Warwick” Smith (British Museum) and William Pars (Tate) drew it. Towne sketched FT200 from the steps of the Temple of Antonius, which is the colonnaded church visible on the left of this drawing.
The watercolour continues for ca. 10 mm onto the bottom-right edge of the mount paper. This, together with the late date of the mount and the heavy shading of the foreground details, confirms that the drawing was worked on many years after Italy. As was Towne’s habit, the smaller sheet was left much less finished than the larger.