Towne was the official model-maker at Guy's Hospital in London for over 50 years, during which time he made over 1000 models; several won him prizes at the Royal Society of Arts and the Great Exhibition of 1851. Towne was praised by artists and scientists alike, not only for the rate of his output but the exquisite skill with which he created unflinchingly accurate depictions of the dissection process and of pathological anatomy.