Charles Towne was an English animal (especially horses) and landscape painter. 

This painting shows the influence of the middle 17th century Dutch landscape painter Aelbert Cuyp. Cuyp was already in the early 1800s much appreciated by English aristocracy for his treatment of light, especially of late evening summer light.

 

 

English painter

Wigan 1763 – 1840 London

 

Animal and landscape painter.

 

Son of Richard Town (without e), a portrait painter from Liverpool.

Pupil of the landscape painter John Rathbone in Leeds.

 

By the 1790s Charles Towne was an established animal painter with a style reminiscent of the great George Stubbs (1724 – 1806).

 

During five years, between 1799 and 1804, he lived in London. At that period he added a final “e” to his last name.

 

Between 1799 and 1823 he exhibited 12 works at the Royal Academy and four at the British Institution. He returned to Liverpool, where he had started his career, in 1810, and was a founder member of the Liverpool Academy. He resided in Liverpool until 1837, when he apparently returned to London, dying there in 1840.

 

About the influence of Alebert Cuyp on our painter

 

The British writer on art Walter Shaw Sparrow (1862 – 1940) wrote the following about Town’s paintings in 1922: “"his landscapes are minutely detailed and have a Dutch mannerism; animals and figures are put in with diligent and affectionate care".

 

Our painting is clearly influenced by Aelbert Cuyp (1620 – 1691), the leading 17th century Dutch landscape painter from the town of Dordrecht. Cuyp spcialised in views of the Dutch countryside in early morning or late afternoon light. Many of his paintings have since long been in English collections and museums. Therefore I think Cuyp’s influence must have been direct, thru his own paintings, rather than thru paintings of contemporary (Abraham van Calreat) or later (Jacob van Strij) painters that were influenced by Cuyp.

 

 

Because in this early 19th century painting one sees the influence of middle 17th century Dutch painting, not only in the subject but also in the treatment of the delicate late evening light.