- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Wenlock Priory
- English Landscape with Ruins (Powderham)
- Date
- ca. 1777
- Medium
- Pen and ink, monochrome wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 267mm,
- image length 349mm
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Collection
- Versions
- Wenlock Priory
- Catalogue Number
- FT070a
- Description Sources
- Museum records (image)
Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), on whose death it reverted 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 (BP256, “ruins (very early)”). Judith Merivale attempted to sell it in the 1930s via Squire Gallery but the drawing was returned unsold in October 1939. On 12 July 1945 H. B. Milling (of Squire Gallery) sold it to Colnaghi (no.A13152), who sold it on 4 November 1947 for £20 to Gilbert Davis (1899–1983), who sold it to the present owner, the Huntington Library, San Marino, California (59.55.1272).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Huntington Library, San Marino, California, San Marino
59.55.1272 - Gilbert Davis (1899 - 1983), 4 November 1947, GBP 20
- P&D Colnaghi & Co, London, London, 4 November 1945
no.A13152 - Horace Bernard Milling (1898 - 1954), London, 12 July 1945
- Squire Gallery, London
Judith Merivale attempted to sell it in the 1930s via the Squire Gallery but the drawing was returned unsold in October 1939 - Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP256
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP256
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- Three Exeter Artists of the Eighteenth Century: Francis Hayman RA, Francis Towne, John White Abbott, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 1951
- Bibliography
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 138, listed as 'English Landscape with Ruins (Powderham)'
Other entries in Studio Watercolours, 1783–1800
Much Wenlock, Shropshire, with the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Wrekin, on the Road between Much Wenlock and Shrewsbury
A View going from the Head of Lake Como over Mount Splugen
The Campagna near Rome looking towards the Sabine Mountains
A View of Loreto with Part of the Adriatic Sea
A View near the Arco Scuro Looking towards the Villa Medici
An Evening View from Mount Palatine looking towards Mount Aventine
A View on the Banks of the Tiber near Monte Milvio
A View of the Temple of Venus looking towards the Island of Nisida
Chateau de Glerolles, near Vevey on Lake Geneva
Abbey Valley Crucis, near Llangollen on the River Dee, North Wales
A View on the Banks of the Dee above Llangollen
A View of the Bay of Naples with the Island of Capri
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Comment
Although the drawing has been catalogued by its owner as an early view of Powderham, this is a version of a view of Wenlock Priory (FT070) in Shropshire, made in 1777. However, with a sharpness and vigour more associated with slightly monochrome studies, it probably dates from the early 1780s and may be connected with commissioned watercolours of Shropshire, including a view of Wenlock Priory, dated 1783 (FT396, FT397; see also FT397a). That study differs somewhat from the 1777 version, in which the three elements of building appear flatter and of more even height than here. In this drawing Towne has sought to give additional depth to the composition by increasing the size of the ruin at the right and decreasing the central tower, making it appear more distant.