The Correspondence of Francis Towne (1739-1816): Ozias Humphry to Towne, 10 Feb 1779

Newman Str. Feb. 10. 1779

My dear Friend

I had this moment the pleasure of receiving your letter and take the earliest opportunity to answer it - Whatever pictures you send to me shall be treated with as much care and attention as is possible - & I shall be happy to see you in London - I look forward to the prospect with pleasure.

I am much flattered by your favourable sentiments of me: they would be more grateful to me still if I could persuade myself that I deserved them - remember me to my old Friends Jackson & White tell the latter of these gentlemen I have received his Letter & will send him his portrait in a very little time - I remain with great regard - Dr Sr Yr most faithful
Friend etc

Ozias Humphrey

To Mr Town
in the Fore Str
Exeter.

Notes
Source: Emily Buckingham

Francis Towne: "An Artist of great eminence as a landscape painter"

Francis Towne was baptised in Isleworth in 1739. He trained and worked as a London coach painter until the 1760s, when he moved to Exeter. There he remained, on and off, until his retirement. At the end of his life he returned to London, and he died in Devonshire Street, Marylebone, in 1816.

Towne enjoyed some critical success in the 1770s and made a sporadic living until the 1780s working on commission from Devon landowners and businessmen. He studied in Italy 1780-1, producing many notable works, and so although he worked mainly as a drawing master, it was as a landscape painter that he wished to be known. Yet Towne won little recognition from the Royal Academy and the metropolitan art world; although his friends remembered him as 'an artist of great eminence', it was not until the 20th century that Towne's work was generally appreciated.

Apart from the images he made, most of what we know about Towne comes from his correspondence, most of it hitherto unpublished. All the letters sent to Towne were left by him to John Herman Merivale, a poet and lawyer who had studied under Towne in Exeter, among a large bequest of paintings and drawings. Those written by Towne come from various sources.

Towne's life and work were the subject of Richard Stephens's PhD thesis, examined at Birkbeck College, London, in 2006.

Ozias Humphry to Towne, 10 Feb 1779

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Francis Towne: "An Artist of great eminence as a landscape painter"