A View of Lake Windermere

Description

Creator: Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)

Title(s)

A View of Lake Windermere
Windermere
A View of Windermere, Westmorland

Date: 1786/08/16

Medium: Pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour

Dimensions

image width 152mm,
image length 470mm

Support: two sheets

Mount: (?)mounted by the artist

Inscription

sheet, recto, lower left
“F.Towne / delt 1786 / No.27”

Inscription

artist's mount, verso
“A View of Windermere, Westmorland-August the 16th 1786, drawn by Francis Towne 4 O’Clock in the afternoon. No.27”

Object Type: Watercolour

Collection

(59.55.1274)

Catalogue Number: FT483

Description Sources: Museum 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 granddaughter Frances Solly (b.1858) inherited the drawing (in ca. 1921–1932) probably from her sister Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853–1923) and sold it to Walker’s Galleries, where it was bought on 22 June 1948 by Gilbert Davis (1899–1983), from whom it was acquired in 1959 by the current owner, Huntingdon Library and Art Gallery, San Marino (59.55.1274).

Associated People & Organisations: Huntington Library, San Marino, California, San Marino, 1959, 59.55.1274; Walker's Galleries, London; Gilbert Davis (1899 - 1983), 22 June 1948; Frances Ann Laura Solly (1858 - alive in 1932), 1923; 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. 79 as 'Windermere'; unidentified exhibition, Walker's Galleries, 1948, no. 128; Three Exeter Artists of the Eighteenth Century: Francis Hayman RA, Francis Towne, John White Abbott, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 1951, no. 26; unidentified exhibition, Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 1959

Bibliography: Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 139; Henri Lemaitre, Le Paysage Anglais a l'Aquarelle 1760-1951, Bordas: Paris, 1955, p. 168; Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, pp. 113-114

Comment

This is a view looking south down Windermere from Rayrigg, showing Adelaide Hill in the central mid-distance. It became one of the most celebrated views of Windermere for eighteenth-century travellers, popularised by “Mr Young”, whose rapturous description of the view was incorporated into West’s travel guide as Station V:

You return to the village [of Bowness], and taking the by-road to the turnpike, mount the hill without turning your head, till you almost gain the top, where you will be struck with astonishment at the prospect spread before your feet, which if not the most superlative view that Nature can exhibit, she is more fertile in beauties than the reach of my imagination will allow me to conceive.¹

As Wilcox observes, the right third of the right page was completed by Towne separately from the rest. An engraving of Joseph Farington’s version of this view was published in ca. 1789.²

by Richard Stephens

Other entries in Lake District, 1786

Francis Towne

A View at Ambleside 1786

A View at Ambleside

Francis Towne

Ambleside 1786

Ambleside

Francis Towne

Ambleside 1786

Ambleside

Francis Towne

A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick 1786

A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick

Francis Towne

Near Ambleside 1786

Near Ambleside

Francis Towne

Loughrigg, near Ambleside 1786

Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum

Loughrigg, near Ambleside

Francis Towne

Lake District Sketch 1786

Lake District Sketch

Francis Towne

Rydal Fell and Loughrigg 1786

Rydal Fell and Loughrigg

Francis Towne

Rydal Water 1786

Rydal Water

Francis Towne

A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere 1786

A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere

Francis Towne

Lake Windermere from Ambleside 1786

Lake Windermere from Ambleside

Francis Towne

Part of Ambleside 1786

Part of Ambleside

Francis Towne

Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere 1786

Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere

Francis Towne

Lake Windermere from near Low Wood 1786

Lake Windermere from near Low Wood

Francis Towne

A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside 1786

A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside

Francis Towne

Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere 1786

Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere

Francis Towne

Clappersgate, near Ambleside 1786

Clappersgate, near Ambleside

Francis Towne

The Force above Skelwith Bridge 1786

The Force above Skelwith Bridge

Francis Towne

Elterwater 1786

Elterwater

Francis Towne

The Cascade at Rydal Hall 1786

The Cascade at Rydal Hall

Francis Towne

Trees and Rocks above Water 1786

Trees and Rocks above Water

Francis Towne

Tree Trunks and Cottage 1786

Tree Trunks and Cottage

Francis Towne

Rocks and Trees 1786

Rocks and Trees

Francis Towne

Near Rydal Hall 1786

Near Rydal Hall

Francis Towne

Ambleside, taken behind the Inn 1786

Ambleside, taken behind the Inn

Francis Towne

Coniston Water 1786

Coniston Water

Francis Towne

A View of Coniston Water 1786

A View of Coniston Water

Francis Towne

Low Wood near Ambleside 1786

Low Wood near Ambleside

Francis Towne