- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- A View of Llyn Cwellyn near Snowdon
- Llyngwellyn, Caernarvonshire
- View of Llangwellyr, near Snowdon.1777
- Date
- 1777
- Medium
- Pen and grey ink, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 273mm,
- image length 425mm
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto
- “F.Towne / delt 1777 / No28”
- and centre-left background, possible indistinct wording on the side of a mountain
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “No.28 light from the left hand / a View of Llyngwellyn near Snowdon in North Wales / drawn on the spot by / Francis Towne / 1777”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- FT092
- Description Sources
- Agnew's 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 granddaughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), both of Oxford, inherited the drawing in May 1915 (BP114). On 6 March 1922 they sold it to Agnew’s (no.10122) for £70 with 521 for onward sale (on 22 February 1922 according to Agnew’s) to Victor Rienaecker (b.1887, alive in 1959) for £90. Subsequently it was acquired by Walter C. Hetherington of Gerrards Cross (dead by 1978), whose estate sold it at Christie’s, 14 February 1978, lot 108, where it was bought by A. Reed for £9,500, presumably the art dealer Anthony Reed. It was thereafter in a US private collection until 1990, when it appeared for sale at Agnew’s, where it was bought by Dorothy Scharf (d. 2004), who bequeathed it to the current owner, The Courtauld Gallery (D.2007.DS.39).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Courtauld Gallery, London, London, 2004, D.2007.DS.39
- Dorothy Scharf ( - 2004), 1990
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 1990
- Private Collection, 1990
- Anthony Reed (20th century), 14 February 1978, GBP 9500
- Christie's, London, London, 14 February 1978, lot 108
- Walter C. Hetherington ( - 1978)
- Victor Rienaecker (1887 - after 1963), 22 February 1922, GBP 90
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 6 March 1922, GBP 70, no. 10122
Acquired with FT521 - Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP114
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP114
- 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. 32 as 'Llyngwellyn, Caernarvonshire'
- Exhibition of Selected Watercolour Drawings by Artists of the Early English School, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1922, no. 78 as 'View of Llangwellyr, near Snowdon.1777'
- Three Exeter Artists of the Eighteenth Century: Francis Hayman RA, Francis Towne, John White Abbott, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 1951, no. 49
- unidentified exhibition, Anthony Reed, 1978, no. 17
Other entries in Tour of Wales, 1777
View of a Mountain, Perhaps near Aberddwlas
A View near Dolgelly with Part of Cader Idris
A View of the Salmon Leap from Pont Aberglaslyn
The West Front of Tintern Abbey
Chepstow Chepstow Museum and Art Gallery
The Ruins of the Great Room in Ludlow Castle, Shopshire, where Milton’s Comus was Performed
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Comment
This is a view of the lake of Llyn Cwellyn looking north. The protruding rock on the left edge of the water is seen from the other direction in FT091. Judging from the long foreground shadow, Towne’s inscription, and the warmth of the sky, this is an early evening view.