Francis Towne

Bequeathed by the artist to James White of Exeter (1744-1825), 1816,

John Herman Merivale (1779-1844), 1825,

by descent to his granddaughters, Maria Sophia Merivale (1853-1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860-1945), both of Oxford, by May 1915,

sold, in 1938, by Judith Ann Merivale, to Robert Dunthorne & Son Ltd at the Rembrandt Gallery, London;

with The Fine Art Society, London, by 1942,

by whom sold to Lady Mary Alice Clare Dormer (née Fielding) of Byways, South Ascot (1888-1973), 26 November 1942,

her sale, London, Sotheby’s, 10 December 1958, lot 96 (to The Fine Art Society),

with The Fine Art Society, London,

where acquired by J. Suppton(?), circa 1964-5,

by descent until, 

sale, London, Sotheby’s, 23 November 2006, lot 222,

where acquired by the late Sir Simon and Lady Day 

London, The Fine Art Society, Exhibition of Watercolours, Drawings and Oils by Early English Artists, 1942, no. 74;

London, The Fine Art Society, Exhibition of Early English Watercolours and Drawings, 1959, no. 27

B. Donn, 'A Map of the County of Devon', Benjamin Donn: A Commemorative Volume, Devon and Cornwall Record Society and The University of Exeter, Exeter 1965, pl. 5b;

T. Wilcox, Francis Towne, London 1997, pp. 31-32;

R. Stephens, Francis Towne – Online Catalogue, FT027

Werrington Park, on the western edge of Devon, was the seat of Humphrey Morice (1723-1785), Member of Parliament for nearby Launceston from 1750 to 1780, and a noted art collector. Towne sketched on the Devon estate throughout his career. Indeed Towne's earliest known connection with the county is the view of Werrington displayed at the 1767 Society of Artists Exhibition, and he continued to work there long after Werrington was sold to the Duke of Northumberland in 1775.

In this watercolour, Towne has exploited the estate's best-known qualities; for Werrington was noted for its beautiful woods and river. A commentary of 1778 considered that the ‘park is one of the noblest in England, distinguished by its fine woods,’ and Gilpin also judged that ‘the park contains many beautiful scenes, consisting of hanging lawns and woods, with a considerable stream, the Aire, running through it.’¹

Although previously considered to date from the early 1770s, in his recently published catalogue raisonné, Dr Stephens has suggested that the drawing is more likely to have been executed in the late 1780s or even the early 1790s.²

^1.Rev. W. Gilpin, Observations on the Western Parts of England, relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, London 1798, p. 215.

^2.Stephens, loc. cit.