Exeter from Exwick, 1773 by Francis Towne (1739/40-1816)
© Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter. RAMM Accession No. 10/1961
Exeter from Exwick, 2005 by Brian Carpenter (1965-)
Do you recognise this view from Exwick today?
By Penny Sexton, Assistant Curator of Art, RAMM
This oil painting is a view of Exeter from the hills of Exwick and was painted by famous artist Francis Towne (1739-1816) around 1773. The painting gives an impression of how compact the city was in late Georgian time. The view looks out from the fields above the River Exe, with the city in the middle distance. Its skyline is still dominated by the medieval cathedral and parish churches, and the medieval walls are still apparent. You can also see the Exe Estuary in the distance.
From Exwick, take a look at this view today. What does it look like now?
This picture is typical of Towne's landscape oils; it replicates the style of work of painter Claude Lorrain (1600-1682) in the treatment of trees and glistening river winding towards a bright horizon. It is a strong example of his work held in the fine art collection at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery.
Francis Towne is now considered one of the most innovative watercolourists of his age. It is thought that he was born in Middlesex in 1739/40 and at the age of thirteen, he was apprenticed to Thomas Brookshead, a London coach painter. After the apprenticeship he undertook further study at St Martin's Lane Academy, and began to exhibit paintings. Around 1763, the coach painter, Thomas Watson, employed Towne. It was in this capacity that he first visited Exeter, the city that became the centre of his activities for the next two decades.
Pupils included John White Abbott
He acted as a drawing master and his pupils included the prominent Exeter lawyer James White and his nephew John White Abbott, who became a good friend of Towne and a distinguished artist in his own right.
By the 1770s Towne was firmly established in Exeter as a painter of landscapes and country estates and, as a result, established his reputation among Devon aristocracy and gentry. Towne also travelled to places such as Italy, Switzerland, Wales and the Lake District. In 1807 he moved to London, marrying Jeannette Hilligsberg, a dancer, but she died the following year. In 1809 he toured Devon and Cornwall. Towne again spent much of his time outside of London, but returned regularly to Devon.
He exhibited for the last time in 1815, at the British Institution, and died in London in the following year, on 7 July 1816.
Though not well known in his lifetime, Towne had an enormous influence on English watercolourists of the twentieth century, following the rediscovery of his work, in the 1930s.