Lot 34: Francis Towne (Middlesex 1739-1816 London)

Francis Towne (Middlesex 1739-1816 London) Rome, going out from Porta Pia looking towards the Sabine Mountains signed, inscribed and dated 'Rome Going from the Port of Pia looking towards the Sabine mountains drawn on the Spot 1781 Francis Towne delt' (on the verso) and with inscription '3 B.P.' (on the verso, in the hand of Paul Oppé) pen and grey ink, blue and grey wash, watermark Strasburg Lily 8 x 10 in. (21.6 x 27.3 cm.)

York, City Art Gallery, Watercolours of Francis Towne, January 1950, no. 17. Scarborough, Art Gallery, English Watercolours from Four Yorkshire Houses, June-July 1950, no. 10. London, Arts Council, Three Centuries of British Water-colours and Drawings, 1951, no. 191. Leeds, City Art Gallery, Exhibition of Early English Watercolours, 1958, no. 100.

A. Bury, Francis Towne: Lone Star of Water-Colour Painting, London, 1962, p. 141. W.A. Worsley, Early English Water-Colours at Hovingham Hall, Hovingham, 1963, no. 40.

J.H. Merivale, and thence by descent. with Agnew's, London, where purchased by Sir William Worsley, November 1945 (65 gns), and thence by descent in the family.