Thomas Rowlandson

Rowlandson & Pugin del. et sculpt. J. Bluck aquat. Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), prolific British artist, caricaturist and printmaker and accomplished French-born architectural draughtsman and printmaker Augustus Charles Pugin (1769-1832) combined their talents and jointly created the illustrations for The Microcosm of London (1808-1810) written by William Henry Pyne, published in London by Rudolf Ackermann in his “Ackermann’s Repository of Arts”, 100 Strand. The collection showcases the institutions, scenery, people and activities of cosmopolitan London at the turn of the 18th century. Pugin and Rowlandson worked collaboratively, with the former providing the architecture and the latter peopling the scenes with figures. The images were then etched by a number of talented engravers in Ackermann’s employ. Of the 104 plates in this three-volume publication, twenty-nine were engraved by Joseph Constantine Stadler (1780-1812), including this plate 81. It is dated 1st September, 1809 and was included in volume 3.

Sources: The Royal Collection Trust; National Portrait Gallery; Met Museum; Sir Stephen Leslie, Dictionary of National Biography, (Volume 47, 1885); Romantic London (blog).

Artists: Thomas Rowlandson / Augustus Charles Pugin / Joseph Constantine Stadler (aquatint).
Medium: Hand-coloured etching and aquatint.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 23.5 x 27.3 cm. / 9 ¼ x 10 ¾ in. (view).
Frame: 36.2 x 40.5 cm. / 14 ¼ x 16 in. Wood, contemporary. Acid-free matting, glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.