People & Organisations

Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)

Towne family

Watercolourist, b. London, trained in London as a coach painter before attending St Martin's Lane Academy, later (from c. 1764) lived in Exeter, where was a drawing master, although he spent late spring and summer in London every year and exhibited regularly at the RA and later at the British Institution; returned to London in 1807?.

There has been confusion about his date and place of birth, which was resolved by Richard Stephens:[fn]Richard Stephens, 'New Material for Francis Towne's Biography', The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 138, No. 1121 (Aug., 1996), pp. 500-505[/fn] 'Far from being a native of Devon, Towne was from Isleworth in Middlesex, eight miles west of London. His father, William Towne, was a cornchandler, whose wife was called Lydia. Francis was baptised at All Saints', Isleworth, on 19th August 1739, and seems to have been the youngest child of the family.'

charcoal, touched with red chalk and heightened with white, 1795

Figure 1.
John Downman, Study for a portrait of Mr Francis Towne of Exeter, Landscape Painter, charcoal, touched with red chalk and heightened with white, 1795


Digital image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum.

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