- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- The City and Lake of Como
- Date
- No date
- Medium
- Pencil, watercolour, gum, scratching out
- Dimensions
-
- image width 505mm,
- image length 760mm
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower left
- “Francis Towne / delt 1800”
- in brown ink, over an erased date, probably “1796”, as the middle two digits go below the line and the fourth goes above
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Versions
- The City and Lake of Como
- Catalogue Number
- FT618
- Description Sources
- Sotheby’s records (image)
Provenance
Untraced prior to its sale at Sotheby’s on 11 November 1993, lot 40, for £3,800. It was sold again at Sotheby’s on 30 June 2005, lot 251, for £5,000, presumably to John Spink, who offered it for sale in November 2005.
- Associated People & Organisations
- Private Collection
- John Spink, London, November 2005
- Sotheby's, London, London, 30 June 2005, GBP 5000, lot 251
- Sotheby's, London, London, 11 November 1993, GBP 3800, lot 40
- Exhibition History
- [?] Exhibition of Original Drawings at the Gallery, No.20 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, 20 Lower Brook Street, 1805, no. 128 as 'The City and Lake of Como'
- The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, Royal Academy of Arts, 1808, no. 467 as 'The City and Lake of Como'
- Francis Towne and his Friends, John Spink at Colnaghi, 2005, no. 13
Other entries in Studio Watercolours, 1783–1800
Francis Towne
Much Wenlock, Shropshire, with the Ruins of the Priory Church
Much Wenlock, Shropshire, with the Ruins of the Priory Church
Francis Towne
The Wrekin, on the Road between Much Wenlock and Shrewsbury
The Wrekin, on the Road between Much Wenlock and Shrewsbury
Francis Towne
A View going from the Head of Lake Como over Mount Splugen
A View going from the Head of Lake Como over Mount Splugen
Francis Towne
The Campagna near Rome looking towards the Sabine Mountains
The Campagna near Rome looking towards the Sabine Mountains
Francis Towne
A View of Loreto with Part of the Adriatic Sea
A View of Loreto with Part of the Adriatic Sea
Francis Towne
A View near the Arco Scuro Looking towards the Villa Medici
A View near the Arco Scuro Looking towards the Villa Medici
Francis Towne
An Evening View from Mount Palatine looking towards Mount Aventine
An Evening View from Mount Palatine looking towards Mount Aventine
Francis Towne
A View on the Banks of the Tiber near Monte Milvio
A View on the Banks of the Tiber near Monte Milvio
Francis Towne
A View of the Temple of Venus looking towards the Island of Nisida
A View of the Temple of Venus looking towards the Island of Nisida
Francis Towne
Chateau de Glerolles, near Vevey on Lake Geneva
Chateau de Glerolles, near Vevey on Lake Geneva
Francis Towne
Abbey Valley Crucis, near Llangollen on the River Dee, North Wales
Abbey Valley Crucis, near Llangollen on the River Dee, North Wales
Francis Towne
A View on the Banks of the Dee above Llangollen
A View on the Banks of the Dee above Llangollen
Francis Towne
A View of the Bay of Naples with the Island of Capri
A View of the Bay of Naples with the Island of Capri
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Comment
This is one of three treatments of the subject, based on an untraced 1781 sketch; the other watercolours are dated 1785 and 1787 (FT424, FT535). Perhaps the present work was the exhibit of 1805 (although equally that may have been the lost source drawing), and very probably it was shown in 1808, when Towne’s work was hung in the Royal Academy’s Council Room, which had long been the prime display area for watercolours. For Towne’s remaining exhibits of 1808 see FT562, FT616, FT617, FT645, FT645a, and FT646.
The drawing has been heavily cleaned between its appearances at Sotheby’s in 1993 and 2005 and most of Towne’s orange evening effect has been lost.