- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
- Date
- 1786/08/17
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour, gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 156mm,
- image length 235mm
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower centre
- “No31 / F.Towne / delt 1786”
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Light from the left hand / 12 o Clock / No.31. / Raven Cragg with part of Thirlmere Lake / in the Vale of St. John. in Cumberland / Drawn by Francis Towne / [“August 17th.1786” scratched out] / London / [“Leicester Square / 17. . .” scratched out]”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- FT487
- Description Sources
- Examination; Museum 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 granddaughter Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853–1923) inherited the drawing in 1915 and she sold it on 10 (according to Agnew’s) June 1921 to Agnew’s (no.9975) for £30, where it was bought on 7 (both Agnew’s and museum) June 1921 by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam (for £75 with FT459) on behalf of the current owner, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (PDP, 1052).
- Associated People & Organisations
- Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 7 June 1921, £75, with FT459
Acquired by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam. - Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 10 June 1921, GBP 30, no.9975
- Emily Harriet Buckingham (1853 - 1923), 1915
- 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. 73 as 'Raven Cragg at Wyburn Lake'
- Beauty, Horror, Immensity, Fitzwilliam Museum, 1981, no. 119
- Bibliography
- Peter Bicknell, British Hills and Mountains: 1947, repr (no plate no)
- Adrian Bury, Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, Charles Skilton: London, 1962, pp. 30, 129
- Luke Herrmann, British Landscape Painting of the 18th Century, Faber: London, 1973, p. 78
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 119
Other entries in Lake District, 1786
Francis Towne
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
A View at Ambleside, near Sir Michael Fleming’s on the Road to Keswick
Francis Towne
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
A View taken at Ambleside at the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Looking from Ambleside across Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
A View near the Turnpike on the Way from Low Wood to Ambleside
Francis Towne
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Looking to the Mountains over the Head of Buttermere
Francis Towne
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
A View at Low Wood, looking across the Head of Lake Windermere
Francis Towne
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Raven Crag and Part of Thirlmere
Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliam Museum
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
St John’s in the Vale, looking towards Grasmere
Francis Towne
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
A View in St John’s in the Vale looking towards Keswick
Francis Towne
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
On the Side of Lake Windermere, near the Turnpike
Francis Towne
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
A View of Derwent Water looking towards Lodore Falls
Francis Towne
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
A View from the Cascade in the Groves at Ambleside
Francis Towne
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
At Ambleside coming from the Cascade in the Groves
Francis Towne
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
A View of Rydal Water looking towards Rydal Hall
Francis Towne
Elter Force, near Ambleside
Elter Force, near Ambleside
National Gallery National Gallery of Victoria
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Comment
Raven Crag, at the north-west corner of Thirlmere, is the peak in the left part of this drawing. Towne was standing at the edge of Great How Wood, just south of St John’s in the Vale, and made the sketch on his journey to the northern zone of the Lakes.