- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Vicovaro
- Date
- 1781/04/22
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey and brown washes
- Dimensions
-
- image width 235mm,
- image length 311mm
- Support
- Whatman paper "J WHATMAN" visible in reverse, the tops of the letters cut off, along top edge.
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “April 22nd. 1781Vicavarro No 6 / The evening sun out of the picture on the left hand / Francis Towne”
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- FT250
- Description Sources
- Examination; Agnew'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 (BP8). Judith Merivale sold it in November 1933 to the Squire Gallery for £7 10s., where Leonard Duke (1889–1971; D.189) bought it in January 1934 for £4 and sold it in 1945 to Henry Charles Green (1883/1884–1966) for £20. Green sold the drawing at Sotheby’s on 18 October 1961, lot 175, for £80 to Agnew’s (no.1385; according to Fine Art Society records, jointly with them, their no.7324), who sold the drawing on 12 August 1963. In 1973 it was given anonymously to the current owner, Rhode Island School of Design (73.204.53). According to Agnew’s records, drawing BP8 was in the collection of Mrs E. W. Evans (née Merivale) before being bought in 1966 by Paul Mellon, even though there is no doubt that BP8 left the Merivale family in 1933.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Rhode Island Museum of Art, School of Design, Providence, 1974, 73.204.53
- Private Collection, 12 August 1963
- The Fine Art Society, London, London, 18 October 1961, no.7324
Acquired jointly with Agnew's - Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, November 1961, GBP 80, no.1385
Acquired jointly with the Fine Art Society - Sotheby's, London, London, 18 October 1961, lot 175
- Henry Charles Green (1883/84 - 1966), 1945, GBP 20
- Leonard Duke (1889 - 1971), January 1934, GBP 4, D.189
- Squire Gallery, London, November 1933, GBP 7.10s
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP8
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP8
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
Other entries in Italy Series, April to June 1781
Thirteen Miles on the Road from Rome to Tivoli
A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent
A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
A View of the Spot from which Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
Monte Porzio Catone from the Park of the Villa Mondragone at Frascati
Blasted Pine Tree in the Villa Mondragone, Frascati
Footnotes
- 1 B. A. Dunker and G. A. Hackert after Jacob Philipp Hackert, Vicovaro, 1784 (Chiarini 1994).
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Comment
An engraving of 1784 is based on Jacob Phillip Hackert’s 1780 gouache, from the same riverside viewpoint as Towne’s sketch.1
The drawing is now very faded but areas of yellow wash (such as on the cloud to the right, and hitting the castle, centre background) are visible.