- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Near Rocca di Papa
- Date
- 1781
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown ink, grey wash
- Dimensions
-
- image width 248mm,
- image length 194mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, verso
- “Near Roccha del papa / Wood of chestnut trees”, numbered “43” or “49”, and dated “1781”
- Object Type
- Monochrome wash
-
- Catalogue Number
- FT275
- Description Sources
- Leger catalogue (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 (BP18). Judith Merivale sold it to Agnew’s (no.1786) on 11 September 1935 (January 1936 according to the Barton Place catalogue) for £8, where the same day it appears to have been bought by Sir Michael Ernest Sadler (1861–1943 for £12. On the basis of Oppé’s description (below) BP18 is almost certainly the drawing on sale at Leger Galleries in 1994 (whose image appears above), whereafter it is untraced.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Untraced
- [?] Leger Galleries, London, 1994
- Sir Michael Ernest Sadler (1861 - 1943), 11 September 1935, GBP 12
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 11 September 1935, GBP 8, no.1786
- Judith Ann Merivale (1860 - 1945), Oxford, May 1915, BP18
- Maria Sophia Merivale (1853 - 1928), Oxford, May 1915, BP18
- John Herman Merivale (1779 - 1844), 1825
- James White (1744 - 1825), Exeter, 1816
- Exhibition History
- British Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings, Leger Galleries, 1994, no. 6
Other entries in Italy Series, April to June 1781
Thirteen Miles on the Road from Rome to Tivoli
A View of Rocca di Papa with Part of the Convent
A View of the Spot where Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
A View of the Spot from which Hannibal is said to have looked at Rome
Monte Porzio Catone from the Park of the Villa Mondragone at Frascati
Blasted Pine Tree in the Villa Mondragone, Frascati
Footnotes
- 1 Paul Oppé records: notes, ca. 1915.
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Comment
Paul Oppé described BP18 thus: “18 ½ [i.e. half the size of the thick prepared paper of FT279] tones yellow. Best free ink tree. Smith with mere ind ink backgrd. Light foregrd.”1 This description fits so well with the Leger drawing (which claims a Merivale provenance)—that the two are here identified as the same work, even though the Barton Place catalogue stated that it was numbered “43” and Leger described the number as “49”.