- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
- Near the turnpike coming from Low Wood to Ambleside
- Ambleside
- Date
- 1786
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown and grey inks, watercolour, gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 156mm,
- image length 474mm
- Support
- two sheets
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower right
- “F.Towne.delt. / No.14.1786” in black ink; upper distance, “C D E” in brown ink; and “B C” in grey ink
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “No.14 / A View taken near the Turnpike coming from Low Wood / to Ambleside, at the head of the Lake of Windermere, in Westmorland. / Drawn on the spot by Francis Towne / August 12th.1786 / A Rydalpeak / B Rydal Cragg / C Rydal head / B lower Greaves / A higher Greaves [with a large bracket “}” covering all five preceding lines] In Rydal Park / C Rydal Lower peak or Cragg / D Rydal Higher peak / E Great Ridge / E Read Crease / Leicester Square / 1791”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (1921P91)
- Catalogue Number
- FT469
- Description Sources
- Examination; 1993 Royal Academy catalogue (image)
Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), on whose death it passed to John Herman Merivale (1779–1844) and his successors. Merivale’s granddaughter Emily Harriet Buckingham (1953–1923) inherited the drawing in 1915 and on 24 May 1921 she sold it to Agnew’s (no.9958) for £50 for onward sale the same day (for £350 with FT072, FT074, FT086, FT108, FT111, FT237, FT260, FT366, FT504) to the current owner, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (1921P91).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, 24 May 1921, GBP 350, 1921P91
Acquired with FT072, FT074, FT086, FT108, FT111, FT237, F260, FT366 and FT504 - Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 24 May 1921, GBP 50, no.9958
- Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853 - 1923), 1915
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- [?] Exhibition of Original Drawings at the Gallery, No.20 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, 20 Lower Brook Street, 1805, no. 87 as 'Near the turnpike coming from Low Wood to Ambleside'
- [?] Exhibition of Selected Watercolour Drawings by Artists of the Early English School, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1921, no. 41 as 'Ambleside'
- Peintures et Aquarelles 1700-1900 du Musee de Birmingham, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, 1966, no. 120
- Two Centuries of English Painting, National Gallery, Prague; National Slovak Gallery, Bratislava, 1969, no. 138
- The Discovery of the Lake District, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1984, no. 85
- The Great Age of British Watercolours 1750-1880, Royal Academy of Arts, 1993, no. 275
- Bibliography
- City of Birmingham Art Gallery, Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Paintings in Oil, Tempera, Water-Colour, etc.: Birmingham, 1930, pp. 196-197
- Henri Lemaitre, Le Paysage Anglais a l'Aquarelle 1760-1951, Bordas: Paris, 1955, p. 168
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 134
Other entries in Lake District, 1786
Francis Towne
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
Francis Towne
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
Francis Towne
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Francis Towne
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
Francis Towne
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
Francis Towne
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
Francis Towne
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
Francis Towne
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
Francis Towne
Elter Force, near Ambleside
Elter Force, near Ambleside
National Gallery National Gallery of Victoria
Revisions & Feedback
The website will be updated from time to time and, when changes are made, a PDF of the previous version of each page will be archived here for consultation and citation.
Please help us to improve this catalogue
If you have information, a correction or any other suggestions to improve this catalogue, please contact us.
Comment
This is a view looking north or north-north-west from the road going south from Ambleside to Bowness, along the north-east shore of Windermere. The turnpike gate was near the southern outskirts of Ambleside in the area of Waterhead. From left to right the hills in Towne’s inscription are now known as Heron Pike, Dove Crag, Fairfield Horseshoe, Low Pike and High Pike, and Red Screes. Towne’s inscription “Read Crease” for Red Screes suggests that he was making a phonetic transcription from the descriptions given by a local guide.
There is evidence of late work in the foreground clusters of foliage.