Description
Creator
Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
Title(s)
  • Near Devil’s Bridge, Cardiganshire
  • Near the Devil’s Bridge – Cattle at Sunset
Date
1810
Medium
Pencil, pen and grey ink, watercolour
Dimensions
  • image width 171mm,
  • image width 254mm
Inscription
  • sheet, verso
  • “Near the Devil’s Bridge”
Part of
  • 1810 Sketchbook
Object Type
Watercolour

Catalogue Number
FT694
Description Sources
Fine Art Society records (image)

Provenance

Bequeathed by Francis Towne 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 sketchbook containing FT689 to FT714, much or all of which by 1963 was owned by Mr and Mrs Sutton of New Zealand. On 19 June 1963 they sold seventeen drawings from the book to the Fine Art Society (no.7772) for £3,750. Although this drawing was photographed by the Fine Art Society, which gave it the title “Near the Devil’s Bridge – Cattle at Sunset”, it was not exhibited in 1964 among the seventeen drawings purchased from the Suttons, and its provenance is unknown.

Associated People & Organisations

Untraced
The Fine Art Society, London, London, 19 June 1963, GBP 3750
Mr & Mrs Sutton, New Zealand, June 1962
Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915
The drawing was inherited within a sketchbook containing FT689 to FT714.
Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915
The drawing was inherited within a sketchbook containing FT689 to FT714.
John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
Bibliography
Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 140

Comment

This drawing was photographed at the Fine Art Society, evidently in the 1960s, but no record of its sale there has been found.

by Richard Stephens

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.