{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O17301"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17301/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP9149/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP9149/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AP9149","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC9439","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022NE6282","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O17301/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O17301","accessionNumber":"P.20-1921","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"The Source of the Arveiron, with Mont Blanc in the Background","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"Francis Towne (1739-1816) began his artistic career as a coach painter. He later moved on to landscape painting. His watercolours are very simple but striking. He painted this watercolour in Switzerland, where he stayed on his return to England after a trip to Italy.","physicalDescription":"View of the source of the River Arveyron in the Chamonix valley. In the background is the Aiguille de Bochard in the Mont Blanc range, and descending from the right and into the foreground is the southern end of the Mer de Glace glacier.\r\n\r\nThis drawing belongs to the remarkable series of studies of Alpine scenery.  Towne banishes all 'picturesque' elements such as wayside shrines and bridges and his vision is of the greatest severity; his presentation austere.  He achieves the expression of his fascination with the geometry of nature by the most economical of means, reducing everything to the simplest of terms and achieving a monumentality by his skilful arrangement of light and interreacting planes.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Towne, Francis","id":"A2416"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour, pen and ink","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Topographical watercolours","id":"THES276285"}],"styles":[{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AP9149","2017KC9439","2022NE6282"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"WS","id":"THES49603"},"free":"","case":"R","shelf":"81","box":"R"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1781","earliest":"1781-01-01","latest":"1781-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"42.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"31.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed and dated 1781."}],"objectHistory":"Bought from Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd, 43 Old Bond Street, London.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Watercolour entitled 'The Source of the Arveiron, with Mont Blanc in the Background' by Francis Towne.  British School, 1781.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Hoozee, Robert (ed.), <i>British Vision. Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950</i>, Brussels : Mercatorfonds ; Ghent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 2007","id":"AUTH354952"},"details":"124","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum.</i>London: V&A, 1985, p.78"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"P. 218","free":"Carolina Brook and Valter Curzi, eds., <u>Hogarth, Reynolds, Turner : British painting and the rise of modernity</u> Milan : Skira, c2014. ISBN: 9788857222714."},{"reference":{"text":"Coombs, Katherine <i>British watercolours : 1750-1950</i> . London: V&A Publications, 2012","id":"AUTH346240"},"details":"p.122, pl.115","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"pp. 24-5","free":"Christiana Payne, Nathalie Levi and Emma Stibbon. <u>Earth : digging deep in British art, 1781-2022</u>. Bristol : Sansom and Co. ; 2022. ISBN: 9781911408925"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Chamonix","id":"x45557"},{"text":"Mer de Glace","id":"THES279141"},{"text":"Alps","id":"x47476"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Landscape","id":"x31100"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.20-1921"],"accessionNumberNum":"20","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1921,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}