Trees by the lake, Peamore Park, near Exeter, Devon

Trees by the lake, Peamore Park, near Exeter, Devon

Francis Towne

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Towne often sketched at Peamore Park, the estate of the Hippesley Coxe family near his home in Exeter. This watercolor is distinguished by blue and green washes heightened with warmer browns. In earlier works, Towne typically used pen and ink to outline and distinguish forms but set that practice aside here and created a strong composition using only finely modulated watercolor; he conveyed luxuriant foliage using feathery touches of the brush. Portions of the paper were left in reserve to define tree trunks and branches in the foreground and the technique helps date the drawing to the seventeen nineties or later. An inscription on the verso notes that Towne painted it “on the spot”, anticipating practices of succeeding generations of British watercolorists.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Trees by the lake, Peamore Park, near Exeter, DevonTrees by the lake, Peamore Park, near Exeter, DevonTrees by the lake, Peamore Park, near Exeter, DevonTrees by the lake, Peamore Park, near Exeter, DevonTrees by the lake, Peamore Park, near Exeter, Devon

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.