Caricatures (SOLD)

Pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, inscribed verso: Talleyrand15 x 13.5 cm.; 5 7/8 x 5 1/4 inchesFrame size 31.5 x 26.5 cm; 12 ¼ x 10 3/8 inchesProvenanceCyril and Shirley Fry collectionThis sketch of the great statesman would appear to have been drawn between 1830 - 1834, during Talleyrand's time as French Ambassador to the Court of St James's.

KT399Pencil, with sketches verso of a wolf and a woman’s body with the head of a pig11.2 x 18 cm; 4 3/8 x 7 inchesFramed size 22 x 27 cm; 8 5/8 x 10 5/8 inchesProvenance: Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd, no. 24553 (called an Eastern Sheep)The subject of the sketch verso is as yet unidentified.

John Nixon (c. 1760-1818)A Cit's Country Box, as described in the 135th number of the ConnoisseurSigned and dated l.r.: JNixon/1804, watercolour over pencil on wove paper48.2 x 64.5 cm.; 19 x 25 3/8 inches ProvenancePrivate Collection, UK until 2025ExhibitedLondon, Royal Academy, 1805, no. 595, entitled The Cit's country box, as described in the 135th number of the Connoisseur. The eponymous poem by Robert Lloyd which inspired this work was first published in the London weekly newspaper The Connoisseur in the 135th edition. The 1757 poem mocks the fashion for building country houses a few miles from London:'The wealthy cit, grown old in trade/now wishes for the rural shade/and buckles to his one-horse chair/Old Dobbin, or the founder'd mare;/while wedg'd in closely by his side/sits madam, his unweildly bride'…..‘The trav'ler with amazement sees/A temple, Gothic, or Chinese,/With many a bell, and tawdry rag on,/And crested with a sprawling dragon;/A wooden arch is bent astride/A ditch of water, four foot wide,/With angles, curves, and zigzag lines,/From Halfpenny's exact designs./ In front, a level lawn is seen,/Without a shrub upon the green,/ Where Taste would want its first great law,/But for the skulking, sly haha,/By whose miraculous assistance,/You gain a prospect two fields distance.’https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/works/o5089-w0090.shtmlNixon evidently had Strawberry Hill in his sights in the present large-scale watercolour of a house by the Thames with Gothic decorations around the roof, a round tower and the prominent urn which is a memorial to a cat (Grim in this case) on the lawn. Horace Walpole’s affection for cats was well known and immortalised by his friend the poet Thomas Gray in Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat (memorialising the unfortunate Selima who drowned in a Chinese goldfish bowl). Nixon has included a self-portrait in this work and can be identified as the figure with a prominent nose talking to a lady in the centre of this watercolour wearing a characteristic blue coat. A smaller sketch of the subject by Nixon was sold at Christie's, London on 6 November 1973, lot 15. Dr Johnson defines a ‘cit’ in his 1771 Dictionary of the English Language as 'a pert low townsman'. The aspirational citizen of Nixon's caricature is drawn with his family and friends in a garden on the banks of the Thames with a distant view of the City of London. His 'country box' has been designed with Gothic decorations, a tower and classical columns. A large sign hanging in the tree warns of 'REAL MAN TRAPS in these GARDENS' and a man trap is strung up in the branches. However, the chaos, oversize statues and lack of finesse make it clear that we are witnessing the life of an aspirational nouveau riche.Nixon's caricatures are generally small in scale. The present work is one of a handful of important and exceptionally large sheets that he produced, all of which are of almost identical dimensions.

With signature l.r.: T. Rowlandson, pen and grey ink and watercolour15.5 x 22 cm; 6 1/8 x 8 5/8 inchesThis drawing probably dates from the 1790s when Rowlandson drew many views of towns all over Britain. The view is currently unidentified.

KT603AWith signature and date 186/03, pen and black and grey ink over traces of pencil and watercolour, inscribed in pencil with title on original mount.17 x 26 cm.; 63/4 x 10 ¼ inchesProvenanceMichael Edwin Sandys, 5th Baron Sandys (1855-1948) by descent to Lord and Lady Sandys, Ombersley Court, Worcestershire until 2023.The 5th Lord Sandys, known as Mikey to his friends, was an eccentric and a keen sportsman who drove coaches. He was a one-time part owner and coachman on the Surbiton to London route on which he ran a stagecoach called The Tally Ho!

Signed l.l.: T. Rowlandson., pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil on laid paper17 x 21.1 cmProvenanceLeger Galleries, November 1967;Dr E. WilkesExhibitedSheffield City Art Galleries, ‘Local Heritage’, 17 April 1970 - 7 May 1970, no. 67Engravedby Samuel Alken as the fourth of four images relating to dining published as a single sheet with the title ‘Different Sensations’ (with subtitles: Preparing for Supper; Waiting for Dinner, At Dinner and After Dinner), 22 October 1789; reissued in 1792 by S.W. ForesRowlandson drew portly diners and gouty gourmands throughout his career. This fine drawing can be dated to circa 1785-9 and shows a maid preparing the diner for his meal. I am grateful to Nick Knowles for his comments about the etching of this subject, notably his view that Rowlandson made the image for the etching in 1792 rather than Samuel Alken who issued the print.

Pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, with colour tests verso23 x 29.1 cm; 9 x 11 1/2 inchesProvenanceMrs Gilbert Miller;Dr E. Wilkes from 1969ExhibitedLeger Galleries, English Watercolours, 12 November - 31 December 1969, no. 6;Sheffield City Art Galleries, ‘Local Heritage’, 17 April – 17 May 1970, no. 70

KT345A volunteer infantrymanInscribed below: Volunteer Infantry 1798. Original sketch by Thos. Rowlandson., pen and grey ink and wash over pencil39.2 x 24.4 cm; 15 3/8 x 9 5/8 inchesProvenance: Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 20 July 1972, lot 66; Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 5 June 2008, lot 195, where purchased by John Ross; John Ross until 2019In 1798-9 Rudolph Ackerman published Rowlandson’s Loyal Volunteers of London & Environs, with 87 plates which record the uniforms and weapons of the infantry and cavalry.The volunteer corps were raised as a response to the perceived imminent danger of invasion by the French Napoleonic forces. Rudolph Ackermann notes in his introduction that 'At this moment, the enemy had advanced their best regulated legions to the shores of the British Channel; and for the determined purpose of spreading through our land such miseries as have already rendered wretched their own'. The British response was immediate and defiant, and Ackermann goes on to note that when the Loyal Volunteers of London were inspected by the King on 21st June 1799 the roll-call of volunteers, manning 11 different positions, totalled just over 12,200 men. The book serves as a record of that overwhelming show of loyalty, as well as of the uniforms of all the main volunteer forces. In addition, Rowlandson places each individual in a particular drill position, the name and details of which are given in the engraved text beneath each figure.John Ross (1919-2011) kept his collection of drawings and watercolours at his regency home, Knockmore, outside Dublin. Ross was an active member and Chairman of the Irish Friends of the National Collections, playing an important role in securing many great works for the national collection.

Bears signature, pen and brown ink and watercolour over traces of pencil on laid paper, stamped with collector’s mark30.4 x 23.3 cm; 12 x 9 1/8 inchesProvenanceHenry Scipio Reitlinger (1882-1950), Lugt 2274a; Redleaf Gallery, Tunbridge Wells; Bonham’s, 7 March 2006, lot 46This drawing shows Rowlandson’s more compassionate side and is a poignant portrayal of the treatment of fallen women in late 18th century England. The future looks bleak for the subject who was presumably rounded up for prostitution, as does that of her infant, left in the arms of another woman at the door of the institution into which she is being led by a beadle.Reitlinger was a mining engineer, who made a fortune as a director of the Naraguta Tin Mine and other mining companies in Nigeria. He served as a captain in WWI. In later life he turned collector and art historian and formed major collections of Old Master drawings, Oriental porcelain and Renaissance ceramics. After his death, the Henry Reitlinger Trust operated the Reitlinger Bequest Museum in Maidenhead between 1951 and 1987; it then closed and transferred works to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1991. Reitlinger's remaining personal collections were auctioned at Sotheby's after his death. Part 1 with drawings sold Sotheby's, 9.xii.1953, and was followed by six sales in 1954.His publications include 'Old Master drawings, a handbook for amateurs and collectors' (1922) and 'A Selection of Drawings by old masters in the [V&A] museum collections with a catalogue and notes' (1921).

Signed l.r.: T. Rowlandson, pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, on original wash line mount13 x 20.4 cmThis subject was aquatinted by Rowlandson and published by S. W. Fores in 1798, as plate 7 of Christopher Anstey’s The New Bath Guide or The Memoirs of the Blunderhead Family, 1766. There are numerous small differences between the present drawing (and the other three known versions of it) and the aquatint: notably the central structure with a tower is missing in the aquatint.Another, smaller, version of this composition, measuring 18 x 18.1 cm, is in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Paul Mellon Collection (see John Baskett and Dudley Snelgrove, The Drawings of Thomas Rowlandson in the Paul Mellon Collection, 1977, no. 299 ill.). Another version can be found in the William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, Rockland, Maine.Bath was the most fashionable spa in England in the late eighteenth century, with several public and private baths. The King’s Bath, named after Henry II and built on the foundations of the old Roman reservoir enclosing the hot spring, was a rich source of public amusement. From 6 to 9 o’clock in the morning bathing took place, when fully dressed patients waded through the hot water. The spectacle is wittily described by Lydia Melford in Tobias Smollett’s Expedition of Humphrey Clinker, I, 77, for which Rowlandson made ten illustrations in 1793:‘Right under the Pump-room windows is the King’s Bath; a huge cistern, where you see patients go up to their necks in hot water. The ladies wear jackets and petticoats of brown linen with chip hats, in which they fix their hankerchifs [sic] to wipe the sweat from their faces; but, truly, whether it is owing to the steam that surrounds them, or the heat of the water; or the nature of the dress, or to all these causes together, they look so flushed, and so frightful, that I always turn my eyes another way. ’Provenance: Chris Beetles Gallery; Private collection UK until 2017

Signed l.r.: Rowlandson, pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil22 x 36 cm; 8 3⁄4 x 14 1/2 inchesProvenanceThe Rev. B.S. Allen, his sale, Sotheby’s 21 November 1984, lot 55 (bt. Morton Morris); Martyn Gregory Gallery; private collection until 2023A smaller preparatory drawing in pen and grey wash of this subject by Rowlandson is in the collection of the Huntingdon Library and Art Museum (Sessler99A https://emuseum.huntington.org/objects/11899/a-french-hunt). This drawing dates from c. 1792, the date of another version of the subject which is in the collection of the British Museum, and formerly in the Schwerdt collection. This drawing includes an additional figure of a fallen rider in a red coat behind the leading rider- in the present composition this figure is drawn in the distance and has an additional rider at the end of the group of horsemen (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1939-0714-138).Rowlandson’s caricatures of the French were amongst his most popular subjects and hunting also features frequently in his oeuvre.

Pen and brown and grey ink and watercolour over pencil29 x 24 cm.; 11 3/8 x 9 ½ inchesProvenanceSotheby’s, New York, 30 October 1985, lot 30;Andrew Clayton-Payne Ltd;Private collection U.K. until 2025ExhibitedAndrew Clayton-Payne Ltd, An Exhibition of Watercolours by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), 19 November – 2 December 1998, no. 9EngravedDoctor Gallipot placing his Fortune at the feet of his Mistress thro' Physic to the DogsEtching and aquatint on copperplate; drawn and engraved by Thomas Rowlandson and published in London in 1808.A French doctor on bended knee makes a declaration of love to his young and attractive, female patient. The venerable doctor is declaring his love for the lady whilst gesturing towards a bottle (which in the print of the subject contains "Elixir of Life Drops"). A strategically placed syringe suggests how he might be planning to administer the dosage to obtain eternal youth. A painting on the wall behind the couple shows Cupid in a similar pose in front of a naked Venus. A maid stands behind a partially opened door surveying the scene (to be replaced by a footman in the engraving).Rowlandson pokes fun at both the French and licentious quack doctors as well having a customary dig at the attentions of older men towards younger women.There is more than a usual amount of pencil underdrawing in this watercolour which suggests that Rowlandson changed his mind as he worked, at his usual speed.A pen and wash drawing in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge entitled "Doctor Cathartic declaring his passion to Miss Costive" (1798) provides a grotesque variation on this theme, with both suitor and woman older and uglier.Another version of this watercolour in the collection of Yale University Medical Library shows a similar scene in front of a keyboard instrument.Thomas Rowlandson, Doctor Gallipot. Yale Medical Library. Historical Library, Yale University. New Haven, CT.

Pen and grey ink and watercolour, framed in a gold leaf frame11.4 x 18.8 cm; 4 1/2 x 7 3/8 inchesFrame size 37 x 43 cm; 14 ¼ x 16 7/8 inchesProvenance: Mrs Caroline Scott, 1858;Spink; Private collection, U.K. until 2018A similar drawing of a game of billiards is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (TMS 5665). The player about to make a shot is using a mace, with which the ball was shoved rather than struck. The dominant billiard game in Britain from about 1770 until the early 20th century was English Billiards, played with three balls and six pockets on a large rectangular table.The subject was engraved in W. Combe and T. Rowlandson, The Dance of Life, 1817, p. 230.

Pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, with added signature19 x 26 cm.; 7 ½ x 10 ¼ inchesProvenanceChristie’s, New York, 1 March 1984, lot 446;With Andrew Clayton-Payne;Private collection, U.K.ExhibitedAndrew Clayton-Payne Ltd, An Exhibition of Watercolours by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), 19 November – 2 December 1998, no. 19 (as Figures brawling)The direness of doctors in late 18th century is a perennial Rowlandson theme to which he frequently returns. While a patient slumps in his chair two doctors brawl. The intense fight is joined by a dishevelled woman and who attacks a third man who is vomiting. An empty bottle lies on the floor. This drawing probably dates from 1790s.

Pen and grey ink and watercolour, on the original mount21.5 x 30.5 cm.; 8 1⁄2 x 12 inches, mount size 26.8 x 35.8 cm.; 10 1⁄2 x 14 inchesProvenanceMichael Tollemache Ltd., London;Private collection, U.K., purchased from the above, until 2023This view from 1820s showing elegant figures perambulating is taken from the west end of the reservoir in Green Park which used to be in the northern corner of the park next to Piccadilly on the site of the present-day underground station.The towers of Westminster Abbey designed by Hawksmoor can be seen to the left of the composition and a little further along the four towers of St John Smith Square emerge above the trees. To the left of the Abbey are the buildings of Queen’s Walk. King’s Palace, now called Buckingham Palace can be seen to the left of the large oak tree in the middle of the drawing.Another smaller version of this subject is in the collection of the British Museum and is dated circa 1824. (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1880-1113-2011 ).

With signature in pencil l.r.: Rowlandson, pen and grey ink and watercolour over pencil17.5 x 14.8 cm; 6 7/8 x 5 3/4 inchesProvenanceSquire Gallery, London;K.A.T. Davey, C.B.E.; his sale at Christie’s, London, 24 November 1998, lot 27;Christopher Forbes; his sale at Christie’s, London, ‘The Forbes Collection of Victorian Pictures and Works of Art II, 20 February 2003, lot 190 (£7170);The Lord Wraxall, acquired at the above sale, until 2019This may be a drawing of Miss Baker. The Bakers of Bayfordbury Park, Hertfordshire, were early patrons of Rowlandson, and a drawing of Miss Baker wearing a hat is illustrated in Bernard Falk, ‘Thomas Rowlandson his Life and Art’, 1949, ill. facing p. 124. The drawings are executed in a similar style.

Inscribed with title l.c.: Human nature is fond of Novelty-Pliny, watercolour with pen and red and grey ink over pencil, on the original hand drawn mount with Gilbert Davis’ collector’s mark on the mount29.5 x 22.5 cm.; 11 ¾ x 8 7/8 inchesProvenanceGilbert Davis; (L.757a) Hulme Chadwick; Sotheby’s, London, 1 April 1976, lot 138; Where purchased by the previous owner, private collection U.K. until 2022?Christie’s London, 20 January/June 1970 ?lot 60 (stencil no 15SSA)This drawing, which dates from 1787-1797, shows the artist at his most cynical in his depiction of old age lusting after youth and beauty. Rowlandson’s sly choice of title reflects his interest in antiquity which manifests itself throughout his career.This drawing has a distinguished provenance. Gillbert Davis (1899- 1983) was an actor and writer, who appeared in the film ‘Passport to Pimlico’. He served during both World Wars and collected over 3000 drawings and watercolours by British artists and foreign artists working in England. This included over 300 works by Rowlandson. His Rowlandson collection was exhibited in London in 1939, 1949 and 1950.Hulme Chadwick (1910-1977) was an architect and industrial designer. He first studied at the Manchester School of Art followed by the Royal College of Art from 1931 to 1934. After the RCA he was an architectural assistant in Manchester and London until 1938 when he was appointed Chief Camouflage Officer to the Air Ministry; an appointment he held until 1944. Some of his ten dummy aircraft factories were so convincing they were heavily bombed during the war. He was also responsible for the concealment of radar stations.After the war he established his own practice. His commissions included aircraft interiors for BOAC and A.V. Roe, exhibition design for Shell Chemicals and the Festival of Britain, interior design for the Daily Mirror, the International Wool Secretariat and British Rail. He was particularly active in the field of industrial design where he was most famous for a range of gardening products for Wilkinson Sword. In 1974, he was made a Royal Designer for Industry.

Pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil12.7 x 21.7 cm; 5 x 8 ¼ inchesProvenanceRay Livingston Murphy;Christie's, London, 8 July 1986, lot 57;Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 14 July 1994, lot 118, where purchased by John RossLiteratureChristopher Anstey, The New Bath Guide or The Memoirs of the Blunderhead Family, 1798, pl. XEngravedBy the artist and published by S.W. Fores, 1798The poem The Comforts of Bath was published on 6th January 1798 and illustrated with twelve lithographs by Rowlandson caricaturing life in fashionable Bath.There are other versions of this subject at the Yale Center for British Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum (and several exist of the other Bath drawings in this series) and it is hard to tell which served as the actual design for the prints as Rowlandson drew repetitions and variations of the popular subjects.This ball took place in the Ball Room of the New or Upper Assembly Rooms built in 1769-1771 from a design by John Wood the Younger. By the end of the eighteenth century public assemblies at Bath had become very popular, attracting large crowds and often ending in uproar. Under the direction of the Master of Ceremonies the evening would usually begin with a formal cotillon and be followed by some English country dancing, as witnessed in the present work, where the couples are dancing in groups of four in a ‘Longways’ formation. This dance frequently degenerated into a rowdy spectacle with wigs flying in all directions. The chaperones sat on the benches fanning themselves to try and keep cool. The organ at the east end of the room was built by in 1771 by Mr Seede, the organ builder of Bristol.John Ross (1919-2011) kept his collection of drawings and watercolours at his regency home, Knockmore, outside Dublin. Ross was an active member and Chairman of the Irish Friends of the National Collections, playing an important role in securing many great works for the national collection.

KT605Signed l.r.: pen and grey ink and watercolour, inscribed on reverse in pencil in another hand: Elopment, on the original washline mount10.5 x 16.5 cm.; 4 ¼ x 6 ½ inches

With signature and date l.r.: Rowlandson 1799, inscribed l.l.: FRENCH PRISONERS underescort to EXETER CASTLE for forfeiting their parole, pen and ink and watercolour over pencil26.5 x 40.5 cm; 10½ x 16 inchesProvenance:Christie’s, London, 7 April 1998, lotThere is another drawing of French prisoners on parole at Bodmin in 1795, in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Paul Mellon Collection (B1975.3.145). During the wars which followed the French Revolution, French prisoners were a not unusual sight on the streets of England, and in the present drawing they were presumably being marched to the gaol inside the castle. Another, undated, view of the South Gate, Exeter, is also at Yale (B1975.4.703). Rowlandson seems to have used artistic licence with the architecture, which does not appear to be strictly accurate.Rowlandson worked extensively in the West Country, where he made annual tours. He usually stayed with his friend Matthew Michell, who had an estate at Hengar near Bodmin in Cornwall, where the artist would base himself.In 1068, William the Conqueror selected Rougemont as the site of a larger and more strongly fortified castle than had existed before at Exeter. Baldwin de Moles, or de Brionus, the husband of the king’s niece Albreda, oversaw the castle’s construction and became hereditary sheriff of Devonshire. His son Richard died without issue, and the castle was granted to Richard de Redvers, who was created Earl of Devon by Henry I.In 1232, Exeter Castle was seized by Henry III, who gave it to his younger brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. It remained mainly in the possession of the Earls of Cornwall, and in 1337, when Edward, the eldest son of King Edward III, was created Duke of Cornwall, the castle became part of the Duchy of Cornwall.After its surrender to General Fairfax in 1646 during the Civil War, the castle ceased to be a military fortress. Within the ancient walls, much of the original structure of the Devon County Court was erected in 1774, but it has undergone frequent alterations and some enlargements.

Signed or inscribed l.r., pen and grey ink and wash over traces of pencil13 x 19.7 cmA drawing, Dr. Syntax alarmed by a whale, which shows Dr. Syntax losing his hat and wig to the wind, as in the present drawing, is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Paul Mellon Collection (see John Baskett and Dudley Snelgrove, The Drawings of Thomas Rowlandson in the Paul Mellon Collection, 1977, no. 321 ill.)

KT489Inscribed l.r.: T Rowlandson, pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, extensively inscribed verso: A woman being catched in her Bedchamber with her/Paramour by her husband who had but one Eye She/ran to him, crying aloud that she dream he saw with both’/and therefore, I must know,” added the artful Baggage “whether my Dream be fulfill’d -saying this she shut his good Eye/which gave her Gallant an opportunity of slipping away unper=/ceived by her husband25 x 21.4 cm.; 9 ¾ x 8 3/8 inchesProvenanceWilliam Drummond;Bourne Gallery, bought from the above at The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair c. 1998;Pat Barker, bought from the above, until 2021The inscription seems likely to have been sent to Rowlandson by someone as a proposal for a subject, as the handwriting does not seem to be that of the artist. There is no print of this subject.