Thomas Rowlandson

Pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, with added signature
19 x 26 cm.; 7 ½ x 10 ¼ inches

Provenance
Christie’s, New York, 1 March 1984, lot 446;
With Andrew Clayton-Payne;
Private collection, U.K.

Exhibited
Andrew 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.