Thomas Rowlandson - part 16

Thomas Rowlandson (1757 London – 1827 London) was an English artist and caricaturist of the Georgian Era, noted for his political satire and social observation. A prolific artist and printmaker, Rowlandson produced both individual social and political satires, as well as large number of illustrations for novels, humorous books, and topographical works. Like other caricaturists of his age such as James Gillray, his caricatures are often robust or bawdy. Rowlandson also produced highly explicit erotica for a private clientele; this was never published publicly at the time and is now only found in a small number of collections. His caricatures included those of people in power such as the Duchess of Devonshire, William Pitt the Younger and Napoleon Bonaparte.

For more information about Thomas Rowlandson see part 1. For earlier works see parts 1 - 15 also.

This is part 16 of a 19-part series on the works of Thomas Rowlandson:

1815 The Carter and the Gipsies.
 hand-coloured etching 24.1 x 34.9 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1815 The Privy Council of a King.
 hand-coloured etching 25.1 x 35.1 cm (image)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1815 Vicar and Moses.
 hand-coloured etching 30.3 x 20.8 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1815-20 Stealing the Preserves
pen and red and black ink, with brush and watercolour, over traces of graphite, on ivory wove paper 27.5 x 22 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

c1815 Disturbers of Domestic Happiness
hand-coloured etching 24 x 33.9 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1816 Portsmouth Harbour
pen and grey ink and watercolour
The British Museum, London
© The Trustees of the British Museum

1816 Exhibition at Bullock's Museum of Bonaparte's Carriage Taken at Waterloo.
 hand-coloured etching 22.8 x 32.3 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

c1815 Quaker in Love
hand-coloured etching 24.5 x 20.2 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1815 The English Dance of Death

Volume 1 and 2, of poems written by Doctor Syntax (aka William Coombe) and 75 humourous satires illustrated by Thomas Rowlandson. Approx. 290 pages in each volume.

Hand-coloured etchings:

Frontispiece
Death's Dance

Title Page

Time & Death their Thoughts unpart.

Study for:
When the old fool has drank his wine
And gone to rest, I will be thine.
brown ink and watercolour, over graphite, on cream wove paper 14.5 x 23.6 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL

When the old fool has drank his wine
And gone to rest, I will be thine.

Such mortal Sport the Chase attends
At Break-Neck Hill, the Hunting Ends.

Not all the Statesman's power or art
Can turn aside Death's certain Dart.

His blood is Stopp'd in ev'ry vein
He ne'er will eat or drink again.

The Dangers of the Ocean O'er
Death Wrecks the Sailors on the Shore.

Her tongue & temper to subdue:
Can only be perform'd by you.

What do these sav'ry meats delight you!
Begone, & stay, till I invite you.

I list you, and you'll soon be found,
One of my regiment under ground.

Be not alarm'd - I'm only come
To choose a wife, & light her home.

I have a secret art to cure
Each malady, which men endure.

When the old fool has drank his wine
And gone to rest, I will be thine.

Yes, Nimrod, you may look aghast!
I have un kennel'd you at last.

No scene so blest in Virtue's eyes,
As when the Man of Virtue dies.

Nature and Truth are not at strife:
Death draws his pictures after Life.

On that illumin'd roll of Fame,
Death waits to write your Lordship's name.

The Catchpole need not fear a jail,
The Undertaker is his Bail.

Insure his Life,- But to your sorrow,
You'll pay a good, round Sum to-morrow.

The Doctor's sick'ning toil to close.
"Recipe Coffin," is the Dose.

How vain are all your triumphs past,
For this Set-To will be your last.

Such is the power, & such the strife,
That ends the Masquerade of Life.

As it appears, though dead so long,
Each scull is found to have a tongue.

What watchful Care the Portal keeps!
A Porter He, who never sleeps.

Behold the signal of Old Time:
That bids you close your Pantomime.

Some find their Death by Sword & Bullet:
And some by fluids down the Gullet.

Whene'er Death plays, He's sure to win:
 He'll take each knowing Gamester in.

Plutus commands, & to the Arms
Of doting Age, She yields her Charms.

On the frail Ice, the whirring Skate
Becomes an Instrument of Fate.

Though I may yield my forfeit breath,
The word of Life defies thee, Death

The Fatal Pilot grasps the Helm,
And steers the Crew to Plato's Realm.

I'll lead you to the splendid Croud:
But your next dress will be a shroud.

On with your dead; & I'll contrive
To bury this old Fool alive.

Fungus, at length, contrives to get
Death's Dart into his Cabinet.

Drunk and alive, the man was thine.
But dead & drunk, why, - he is mine.

This is a very break Neck Heat;
And Squire Jockey you are beat.

1815 The Military Adventures of Johnny Newcome, with an account of his Campaigns on the Peninsula and in Pall Mall:

Title Page

Plate1. Frontispiece: Starting to join his Regiment.
 hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.3 x 19 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 2. Getting into his Billet.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.3 x 19.4 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 3. Taking his Breakfast.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.3 x 19.7 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 4. Introduced to his Colonel.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.5 x 20.2 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 5. Smells Powder for the first time.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12 x 19.8 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 6. Johnny writes an account of the action to his mother, which afterwards appears in the Star.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 11.9 c 19.5 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 7. Half Rations.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 11.9 x 19.5 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 8. Learning to Smoke and Drink Grog.
 hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.1 x 19.5 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 9. Poor Johnny on the sick list.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.4 x 19.5 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 10. Going sick to the rear.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.2 x 19.6 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Study for Plate 12.
Dash'd with his suite for Santarem that night.
watercolour with pen and grey ink on beige wove paper 18.6 x 26 cm (sheet)
Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT

Plate 12. Dash'd with his suite for Santarem that night.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.3 x 19.7 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 13. Johnny on Duty with his Chief.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.4 x 19.7 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 14. Presenting the Trophies.
hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.5 x 19.3 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Plate 22. Johnny safe returned to his Mama.
 hand-coloured etching and aquatint 12.4 x 19.8 cm (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Study for Plate 22. Johnny Safe Returned to His Mamma.
watercolour on paper
Art Institute of Chicago, IL