Property from the estate of the late Sir Simon Day (1935-2024)
Francis Towne
Ivy Bridge, Devon
Live auction begins on:
July 1, 09:30 AM GMT
Estimate
7,000 - 10,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from the estate of the late Sir Simon Day (1935-2024)
Francis Towne
(Isleworth, Middlesex 1739 - 1816 London)
Ivy Bridge, Devon
Watercolour over pencil, heightened with pen and grey ink on laid paper;
signed and dated lower right: F. Towne / delt 1775, further inscribed on the original mount (now preserved on the reverse of the frame): Ivy Bridge in the County of Devon / drawn on the spot / …. / by / Francis Towne
200 by 325 mm
Professor Reginald Alton (1919-2003) of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, by at least 1955,
his sale, London, Sotheby’s, 19 March 1970, lot 139 (£1,400 to Mitchell),
with John Mitchell & Son, London;
sale, London, Sotheby’s, 13 November 1980, lot 35 (£4,000);
sale, London, Sotheby’s, 10 March 1988, lot 85 (£13,000),
where acquired by the late Sir Simon and Lady Day
Possibly London, The Squire Gallery, Early English Water-Colours and Drawings, 1933;
Possibly London, Draper’s Hall, Loan Exhibition of English Watercolour Drawings in Aid of the Friends of the Courtauld Institute, 1970, no. 58
L. Herrmann, 'Review: Francis Towne - Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 720, London 1963, p. 133;
L. Herrmann, British Landscape Painting of the 18th century, London 1973, p. 75;
R. Stephens, Francis Towne – Online Catalogue, FT052
Born in Middlesex, Francis Towne began his career in London where, for a time, he shared a house with the young portrait miniature painter, Richard Cosway (1742-1821). Towards the end of the 1760s he moved to Exeter and, over time, he found patronage amongst the leading families of that county and beyond. Although removed from London, he continued both to visit the capital and to exhibit work there for many years and in 1770 his professional progression was recognised when he became a Fellow of the Society of Artists, an institution with which he had been connected since 1762.
The present watercolour is signed and dated 1775, the year in which Towne ‘debuted’ at the Royal Academy. He looks towards the small village of Ivy Bridge, which is located at the southern tip of Dartmoor in his adopted county. Taking its name from the thirteenth century stone structure that crosses the River Erme, the ancient settlement was much admired by early tourists in search of the ‘picturesque.’
Another watercolour of Ivy Bridge, again, which Towne describes as having been drawn from life, survives in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.1 That work is dated 1784, three years after he had returned from a Grand Tour to Italy.
1.Stephens, op. cit., FT412
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