Edinburgh Castle from the south

The present watercolour is the second in a series of about ten drawings which Francis Towne produced during a visit to Scotland in the summer of 1811; arriving in Edinburgh on the 13 August. Number 1 of the series, ‘Edinburgh Castle and Calton Hill’, is in the National Gallery of Scotland. Towne’s interest in the contrast of forms and texture of the architecture of the castle and the expanse of wall in the foreground and the almost sculptural qualities of the rocky outcrop and in the way that these dominate their surroundings is evident.