Francis Towne. Francis Towne was a British watercolour painter of landscapes that range from the English Lake District to Naples and Rome.
After a long period of obscurity, his work has been increasingly recognised from the early 20th century onwards. Towne was born in Isleworth in Middlesex, the son of a corn chandler.
In 1752 he was apprenticed to a leading coach painter in London, Thomas Brookshead. In 1759 he won a design prize from the Society of Arts, and studied for a while at St Martin's Lane Academy; according to his pupil John White Abbott many years later, around this time he also studied under the court portraitist John Shackleton.
In 1763 Towne was employed by a coach painter called Thomas Watson in Long Acre, and went to Exeter on business, where he soon settled. He had already begun painting in oils and also taught drawing, and now he began to accept commissions from wealthy families in Devon.
After a tour of north Wales in 1777, undertaken with his friend, the Exeter lawyer James White, he began to specialize in watercolours. In 1780 he travelled to Rome, where he knew, and painted with, John Warwick Smith, who had been there since 1776, and William Pars, a friend from London. He spent a month in Naples in March 1781, staying with Thomas Jones. After returning to Rome, and excursions to Tivoli and other nearby areas, he travelled home to England with Smith, passing over the Al
After a long period of obscurity, his work has been increasingly recognised from the early 20th century onwards. Towne was born in Isleworth in Middlesex, the son of a corn chandler.
In 1752 he was apprenticed to a leading coach painter in London, Thomas Brookshead. In 1759 he won a design prize from the Society of Arts, and studied for a while at St Martin's Lane Academy; according to his pupil John White Abbott many years later, around this time he also studied under the court portraitist John Shackleton.
In 1763 Towne was employed by a coach painter called Thomas Watson in Long Acre, and went to Exeter on business, where he soon settled. He had already begun painting in oils and also taught drawing, and now he began to accept commissions from wealthy families in Devon.
After a tour of north Wales in 1777, undertaken with his friend, the Exeter lawyer James White, he began to specialize in watercolours. In 1780 he travelled to Rome, where he knew, and painted with, John Warwick Smith, who had been there since 1776, and William Pars, a friend from London. He spent a month in Naples in March 1781, staying with Thomas Jones. After returning to Rome, and excursions to Tivoli and other nearby areas, he travelled home to England with Smith, passing over the Al
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