- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Bassenthwaite
- Date
- ca. 1786/08
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
- image width 155mm,
- image length 350mm
- Support
- two sheets
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “No.40.” in ink and “Light from the right hand / 10 O Clock Bassenthwaite Lake” in pencil
- Part of
-
- Partially-disbound sketchbook sold by Judith Merivale to H. B. Milling of Squire Gallery
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Catalogue Number
- FT496
- Description Sources
- Examination; Sotheby’s records (image); Paul Oppé notes
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 within a partially disbound sketchbook containing FT455, FT462, FT470, FT471, FT472, FT475, FT476, FT477, FT478, FT480, FT494, FT495, FT496. In February 1945 Judith Merivale sold the book to H. B. Milling of Squire Gallery for £25. The drawing was on sale in December 1945 at the Fine Art Society, where it was bought by Joseph Hawksley Elliot of Sheffield (d. ca. 1978), whose daughter sold it at Christie’s on 14 March 1978, lot 82 for £1,100 to Spink & Son, where it was purchased on 27 April 1979 for £2,600 to a UK corporate collection. It was sold at Sotheby’s on 27 November 2003, lot 254, for £19,200 including fees, whereafter it is untraced.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Sotheby's, London, London, 27 November 2003, lot 254
- Corporate Collection, UK, 27 April 1979, GBP 2600
- Spink & Son, London, London, 14 March 1978, GBP 1100
- Christie's, London, London, 14 March 1978
lot 82 - Joseph Hawksley Elliot (1884 - 1978), Sheffield, December 1945
- The Fine Art Society, London, London, December 1945
- Horace Bernard Milling (1898 - 1954), London, February 1945, GBP 25
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Private Collection, 27 November 2003, GBP 19200
- Exhibition History
- English Watercolour Drawings Annual Exhibition 1979, Spink, 1979, no. 6
Other entries in Lake District, 1786
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
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
Bassenthwaite is a lake three miles or so north-west of Keswick. This is a view looking south from near Armathwaite Hall, which was the standard spot from which to view the lake. The peaks of Skiddaw are on the left, partly obscured by cloud.
When Paul Oppé saw this sketch within the 1786 sketchbook, it covered two full sheets, although only the one and a half sheets now surviving were coloured. Beyond the left edge was a further portion outlined in thin black or brown ink.