Francis Towne
(1739-1816)
Tivoli, an Evening Study
22 May 1781
Signed, dated and inscribed on verso by the artist: “No. 30, Francis Towne, Tivoli, 22nd May, Evening sun in the picture on the left near the group of poplar trees, wood in shadow with the light breaking through”
Pencil, pen and ink, wash
12 ½ x 8 ¾ inches (31.8 x 22.2 cm)
Acquired by a Private Collector, USA
Promised gift of Clement C. Moore and Elizabeth Y. Moore to the Morgan Library, New York
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
On 5 March 1936, Judith Merivale sold it to Agnew’s (no.1864) for £6 and on the same day they sold it to Oliver Quibell of Newark (1863–1945) for £9 9s., and then by descent until 2024
Literature
Paul Oppé records: notes, c.1915 (Oppé described this drawing thus: “Fine prepared 8.75 x 12.5. Thin outline, loose. Blotting loose...atmospheric idea. trees & road. Like some Devonshire also Cozens as fluid wash.”)
Paul Oppé, Barton Place Catalogue, unpublished: 1915, no.13
Richard Stephens, A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne, 2016, FT266
References
[1] Paul Oppé records: notes, c.1915
[2] Along with FT270, FT272, FT273, FT274
[3] A.P. Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', in Walpole Society, Vol.8, 1920, p.111
Not seen since Agnew’s sold the drawing in 1936 and long considered lost, this is an exciting rediscovery of a rare monochromatic landscape made at Tivoli, in a year often regarded as Towne’s annus mirabilis, when he produced some of his finest studies. In 1915, Paul Oppé described the drawing in his personal notes as, 'Fine prepared 8.75 x 12.5. Thin outline, loose. Blotting loose...atmospheric idea. Trees & road. Like some Devonshire also Cozens as fluid wash.' [1]
This is one of five sketches Towne is known to have made on 22 May 1781. [2] Judging by its inscription as “An Evening Study,” it was likely the last of these. On the reverse, Towne has inscribed an aide-mémoire: 'Evening sun in the picture on the left near the group of poplar trees, wood in shadow with the light breaking through.' In his seminal 1920 essay on Towne, Oppé singled out the artist’s May 1781 Tivoli studies, noting that 'the sketches which he made next month at Tivoli and the neighbourhood show much greater certainty. They are mainly of foliage on a large scale, or of landscape or buildings on a smaller, and, evidently noted very rapidly — as many as five are dated on the same day — are as a rule free in drawing and broadly toned or coloured with a flowing brush. A paper with a laid surface seems to have aided him both for fine pen work and colour...are excellent examples of his combination of delicate ink outline and bold flat wash. Not infrequently among these drawings scenes which are pure Devonshire recur with the wiry outline and timid, even wash which belonged to their representation; and in several of the large and coloured Roman drawings of trees where Towne hesitated between pure flat pattern and study of foliage, either the pattern wins and the trees are simply outlined shapes, or the whole is a confusion of rather meaningless detailed drawing. But in the monochrome studies he learnt to indicate the shape of the trees by their own structure in masses.' [2]
Francis Towne
(1739-1816)
Tivoli, an Evening Study
22 May 1781
Signed, dated and inscribed on verso by the artist: “No. 30, Francis Towne, Tivoli, 22nd May, Evening sun in the picture on the left near the group of poplar trees, wood in shadow with the light breaking through”
Pencil, pen and ink, wash
12 ½ x 8 ¾ inches (31.8 x 22.2 cm)
Acquired by a Private Collector, USA
Promised gift of Clement C. Moore and Elizabeth Y. Moore to the Morgan Library, New York
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
On 5 March 1936, Judith Merivale sold it to Agnew’s (no.1864) for £6 and on the same day they sold it to Oliver Quibell of Newark (1863–1945) for £9 9s., and then by descent until 2024
Literature
Paul Oppé records: notes, c.1915 (Oppé described this drawing thus: “Fine prepared 8.75 x 12.5. Thin outline, loose. Blotting loose...atmospheric idea. trees & road. Like some Devonshire also Cozens as fluid wash.”)
Paul Oppé, Barton Place Catalogue, unpublished: 1915, no.13
Richard Stephens, A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne, 2016, FT266
References
[1] Paul Oppé records: notes, c.1915
[2] Along with FT270, FT272, FT273, FT274
[3] A.P. Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', in Walpole Society, Vol.8, 1920, p.111
Not seen since Agnew’s sold the drawing in 1936 and long considered lost, this is an exciting rediscovery of a rare monochromatic landscape made at Tivoli, in a year often regarded as Towne’s annus mirabilis, when he produced some of his finest studies. In 1915, Paul Oppé described the drawing in his personal notes as, 'Fine prepared 8.75 x 12.5. Thin outline, loose. Blotting loose...atmospheric idea. Trees & road. Like some Devonshire also Cozens as fluid wash.' [1]
This is one of five sketches Towne is known to have made on 22 May 1781. [2] Judging by its inscription as “An Evening Study,” it was likely the last of these. On the reverse, Towne has inscribed an aide-mémoire: 'Evening sun in the picture on the left near the group of poplar trees, wood in shadow with the light breaking through.' In his seminal 1920 essay on Towne, Oppé singled out the artist’s May 1781 Tivoli studies, noting that 'the sketches which he made next month at Tivoli and the neighbourhood show much greater certainty. They are mainly of foliage on a large scale, or of landscape or buildings on a smaller, and, evidently noted very rapidly — as many as five are dated on the same day — are as a rule free in drawing and broadly toned or coloured with a flowing brush. A paper with a laid surface seems to have aided him both for fine pen work and colour...are excellent examples of his combination of delicate ink outline and bold flat wash. Not infrequently among these drawings scenes which are pure Devonshire recur with the wiry outline and timid, even wash which belonged to their representation; and in several of the large and coloured Roman drawings of trees where Towne hesitated between pure flat pattern and study of foliage, either the pattern wins and the trees are simply outlined shapes, or the whole is a confusion of rather meaningless detailed drawing. But in the monochrome studies he learnt to indicate the shape of the trees by their own structure in masses.' [2]