- Museum number
- Nn,1.5
- Description
-
Part of the Baths of Titus, formerly part of an album; road on left with ruins to right, parts overgrown with shrubs. 1781
Brush drawing in brown wash and watercolour, over graphite
- Production date
- 1781
- Dimensions
-
Height: 324 millimetres
-
Width: 472 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- From album NN,01.1-25
See Nn,1.1 for information about the Towne albums as a whole.
For the inscription, see: Richard Stephens, 'Francis Towne's Views of Rome', British Art Journal, X, no. 3, 2010, p. 50-1 (repro. pl. 5), where he notes that the time in Rome was not one o'clock, as stated on the drawing, but half past 17 - not the local time in Rome but the time back in England.
Towne's use of pen outlines is so characteristic that a watercolour without his wiry calligraphic touch is particularly interesting. In this watercolour Towne's style is nearer to that of 'Warwick' Smith than in any other example; he has applied the paint with a drier brush than usual, and although retaining the smooth paper which he seems to have preferred to Smith's coarse-textured paper, the overall effect is markedly different from his usual watercolours.
The following label was written by Richard Stephens for the Towne exhibition in 2016:
This very direct account, made without a pen line, is almost identical to the watercolour by 'Warwick' Smith displayed on the wall to your left (1936,0704.6). Paul Oppé, the scholar who brought Towne's work to light after a century of obscurity, considered that his 'bold acceptance of coloured mass... might well have appeared ugly and coarse to contemporary eyes.' Yet Oppé was writing in the early 20th century, as a pioneer in the study of 18th century watercolours. Towne seemed more revolutionary then than now, when his work can be more fully appreciated within the context of his peers.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1934 BM, P&D Gallery, Exhibition of English Art, no.300
1958 Apr, BM, Eight centuries of landscape ... water-colours, case 56
1972-3 Oct-Jan Haus der Kunst, Munich, 'Das Aquarell 1400-1950', no.142
1981 BM P&D, 'Francis Towne and John 'Warwick Smith', no cat.
2016, Jan-Aug, BM, 'Light, Time, Legacy: Francis Towne's watercolours of Rome' (no catalogue)
- Condition
- Laid down in artist's original wash-lined mount.
- Acquisition date
- 1816
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Nn,1.5
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 1973,U.1346
