- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Walensee
- Date
- ca. 1781/09/01
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown ink, grey wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 155mm,
- image length 210mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “Lake of Walenstadt / # / taken from Wesen / Septr 1st. 1781 / morning / Light from the right hand / No.47 / Francis Towne”
- in dark brown ink over pencil, except “taken [...] 1781” in light brown ink only and “No.47 [...] Towne” in dark brown ink only; the whole inscription upside down in relation to the drawing
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Catalogue Number
- FT334
- Description Sources
- Examination; Christie'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 (BP73). Judith Merivale framed it in 1935 and, as the Barton Place catalogue contains no note of its sale, she may have retained it until her death. It was on sale at Spink where it was acquired in January 1947 for £45 by Sir William Worsley, Bt (1890–1973), whose family sold it at Christie’s on 5 June 2003, lot 46.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Private Collection, 5 June 2003
- Christie's, London, London, 5 June 2003, lot 46
- Sir William Worsley (1890 - 1973), January 1947, GBP 45
- Spink & Son, London, London
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP73
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP73
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- Watercolours by Francis Towne, City Art Gallery, 1950, no. 23
- Three Centuries of British Water-colours, Arts Council, 1951, no. 192
- Early English Water Colours, Leeds City Art Gallery, 8 October 1958 to 23 November 1958, no. 98
- Francis Towne, Tate Gallery; Leeds City Art Gallery, 24 June 1997 - 4 January 1998, no. 10
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 142
- Sir William Worsley, Early English Water-Colours at Hovingham Hall: 1963, p. 10
- William Coxe, Travels in Switzerland in a Series of Letters to William Melmouth Esq, T. Cadell: London, 1789, vol 1, pp. 40-42
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