(1746 - c.1800), engraver and painter, s. of Rev. J. Townley, headmaster of Merchant Taylors sch.; exh. SA and Free SA 1778 - 83, RA 1779 - 95; 1789 engraver to King of Prussia.
1773 - 6 Rome (Oct. - Nov. 1773, 1774), Florence (Sep. 1775 - Nov. 1776), Parma (by 19 Nov.)
'Mr Charles Townley painter' was in Rome in November 1773 when he was lent money by his namesake, the famous collector,1 although Hayward recorded the arrival in Rome of 'Mr Townley mezzotinto scraper' in 1774.2 In 1774 he was acting as an agent for prints and drawings on behalf of Charles Rogers.3 From September 1775 to November 1776 he was in Florence, where he made copies of many of the self-portraits in the Uffizi (ten of his black chalk copies were sold Sotheby's, 19 Jun. 1969). He applied for permission to copy 'in disegno' in September and October 1775 and again in June and July 1776.4 In December 1775 Townley's mother died5 and in January 1776 he gave a large ball to revive his spirits.6 Townley ('Incisore') was elected to the Accademia del Disegno in Florence on 14 November 1776,7 and later that month he passed through Parma on his way home.8
1. Townley MSS (accts. 1771 - 4; Rome, 12 Nov. 1773). 2. Hayward List, 15, 34. 3. A. Griffiths, Print Quarterly, 10[1993]:1, 21, 31, 33. 4. Borroni 1987, 105, 112 - 3, 121, 125, 132,
147, 154. 5. Humphry corr.MSS, hu/2/39 (Townley, 30 Dec. 1775). 6. Ibid., hu/2/40 (Maria Hadfield, 20 Jan. 1776). 7. Wynne 1990, 538. Borroni 1984, 40. 8. Humphry corr.MSS, hu/2/46 (James Smith, 19 Nov. 1776).