Old Master and British Works on Paper Online
Old Master and British Works on Paper Online
Lot Closed
September 20, 03:33 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
FRANCIS TOWNE
Isleworth, Middlesex 1739 - 1816 London
A view of a Hermitage at Rocca di Papa, near Lake Albano, Italy
Pen and grey ink and wash;
signed and dated, verso: A View of a Hermitage & Rocca del Papa / Francis Towne / 1781
249 by 375 mm (drawing)
422 by 45 mm (frame)
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G.B. Mountford,
by whom sold to Agnew's, May 1940,
with Agnew's, London,
by whom sold, June 1940, to Professor John Malins (1915-1992),
by direct descent to the present owner
R. Stephens, Francis Towne – Online Catalogue, no. FT280
Francis Towne - one of the most original landscape painters of the late eighteenth century - created this drawing in June 1781 while on his year-long Grand Tour of Italy. Although he visited Naples, he based himself in Rome and it was from here that he carried out a comprehensive investigation not only of the ancient city, but also of the surrounding Campagna.
In the present work, he focuses on a quiet pathway at Rocca di Papa, which lies to the south of Rome within the Alban Hills. The subject is intimate and personal by nature but with the composition's combination of strange rock formations, gnarled trees, and the extreme contrasts between light and shade, it is easy to see why it appealed to this radical artist, who was once described by a contemporary as 'the strangest genius' he had ever seen.1
1. B. Ford, (ed.) J. Ingamells, A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701-1800, New Haven 1997, p. 946