- Description
-
- Creator
- Francis Towne (1739 - 1816)
- Title(s)
-
- The Old Wall of Rome at the back of the Villa Medici
- The Walls of Rome, looking towards the Medici Gardens
- Date
- 1781/07/03
- Medium
- Pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour, gum
- Dimensions
-
- image width 319mm,
- image length 474mm
- Support
- the paper has a watermark with a fleur-de-lis design and has a vertical crease down its centre
- Mount
- mounted by the artist
- Inscription
-
- sheet, recto, lower centre
- “F.Towne / delt. 1781 / No34”
- in dark brown ink
- Inscription
-
- artist's mount, verso
- “Rome No.34 / The old Wall of Rome at the back / of the Villa Medici. / drawn on the Spot by / Francis Towne [“July 3rd. 1781.” scratched out]”
- Object Type
- Watercolour
-
- Collection
-
- (Nn,1.8)
- Catalogue Number
- FT204
- 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.1.8).
- 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. 157 as 'The Walls of Rome, looking towards the Medici Gardens'
- 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. 125
- Paul Oppé, 'Francis Towne, Landscape Painter', The Walpole Society: London, 1920, p. 111
- Timothy Wilcox, Francis Towne, Tate Publishing: London, 1997, p. 56
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
Footnotes
- 1 For Wright of Derby’s treatment, ca. 1773–75, see Nicolson 1968.
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Comment
This wall was probably between the Porta del Popolo and the Porta Pinciana, and bordered a public garden where Sallust’s villa was supposed to have been. It seems to have been a popular subject among Towne’s contemporaries, with drawings known by John “Warwick” Smith and Joseph Wright of Derby.1