Not on display
- Artist
- Francis Towne 1739–1816
- Medium
- Ink and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- Support: 310 x 212 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996
- Reference
- T08147
Display caption
The river Arveyron is a short tributary of the river Arvea and rises from the base of the Glacier des Bois in Chamonix. In this watercolour, Towne virtually disregards traditional perspective, and gives an almost abstract vision of the landscape. Swiss subjects had already been treated by a few English artists before Towne's own visit to the Alps in 1781. Towne was, however, the first artist to emphasise the visionary grandeur of the landscape at the expense of artistic convention.
Gallery label, September 2004
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Features
Lure of the wild: Watercolour II
The artist Francis Towne’s near abstract eighteenth-century watercolours of Swiss glaciers were to inspire Eric Ravilious more than a century ...
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