- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Ponte Molle
- Date
- 1781/06
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour with gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 323mm,
- image length 476mm
- Support
- laid paper watermarked with a design featuring a fleur de lis within a coronet the letters "CR" [?or "GR"] below
- Mount
- mounted by the artist on paper watermarked with a coronet design with indistinct lettering that includes amplisands, and featuring the date "179..."
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “No47 Rome / Ponte Molle. 1781 / F.Towne. delt.”
- in brown ink
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Rome / No47 Ponte Molle / [“June 26th 1781.”, “June 28th 1781.”, or “June 30th 1781.” scratched out] / drawn on the Spot by / Francis Towne”
- in brown ink
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,1.20)
- Catalogue Number
- FT217
- Description Sources
- Author's examination of the object
Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), who gave it in 1816 to the present owner, the British Museum, London (Nn.1.20).
- Associated People & Organisations
- British Museum
- James White (1744 - 1825)
- Exhibition History
- [?] Exhibition of Original Drawings at the Gallery, No.20 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, 20 Lower Brook Street, 1805, no. 151 as 'Ponte Molle taken on the Banks of the Tyber'
- Light, time, legacy: Francis Towne’s watercolours of Rome, British Museum, 2016
- Bibliography
- Laurence Binyon, Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists and Artists of Foreign Origin Working in Great Britain Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Trustees of the British Museum: London, 1907, p. 201
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, p. 126
Other entries in Rome Series, October 1780–July 1781
Francis Towne
Two Miles from Rome going out at the Porta Pia
Two Miles from Rome going out at the Porta Pia
Francis Towne
Part of the Ancient Roman Wall between Porta Salara and Porta Pinciana
Part of the Ancient Roman Wall between Porta Salara and Porta Pinciana
Francis Towne
Two Miles from Rome, going out at Porta Salara
Two Miles from Rome, going out at Porta Salara
Francis Towne
Near the Arco Scuro, looking into the Villa Borghese
Near the Arco Scuro, looking into the Villa Borghese
Francis Towne
A Sepulchre by the Road between Rome and the Ponte Nomentana
A Sepulchre by the Road between Rome and the Ponte Nomentana
Francis Towne
The Old Wall of Rome at the back of the Villa Medici
The Old Wall of Rome at the back of the Villa Medici
Francis Towne
St Maria Nuova with the Temple of Venus and Rome
St Maria Nuova with the Temple of Venus and Rome
Francis Towne
The Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Fortuna Virilis
The Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Fortuna Virilis
Francis Towne
Going out from the Porta Pia, looking towards the Sabine Mountains
Going out from the Porta Pia, looking towards the Sabine Mountains
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Comment
Ponte Molle crosses the Tiber on the northern entry into Rome. Towne made several studies in the area soon after he arrived in Rome (FT172, FT173, FT174) but this appears to have been made not long before his departure.
The late mounting and the heavy working of the foliage and the river suggest that this was worked on much later than 1781.