| Doctor Syntax Mistakes A Gentleman’s House For An Inn, and, Doctor Syntax Made Free Of The Cellar, are vintage aquatint Thomas Rowlandson etchings from Tour of Doctor Syntax In Search Of The Picturesque. A student in the Royal Academy, Thomas Rowlandson (1756 - 1827) studied in Paris at the age of 16, and in 1775 exhibited his work for the first time at the Royal Academy. He supplemented his portrait painting income by drawing caricatures, and is regarded as one of the best-known political lampoonists and cartoonist of his day. In 1809, Rowlandson offered the well known British print seller, Rudolph Ackerman, a number of drawings that represented Doctor Syntax, an old clergyman and schoolmaster, oblivious to the realities of the world around him, in love with the fine arts, traveling during his holidays in quest of the picturesque. Rowlandson parodied English artist, clergyman, schoolmaster, and author, William Gilpin (1724 - 1804), who wrote a series of picturesque journeys through England of landscape pictures and flattering prose. Usually executed in outline with a reed pen and delicately washed with color Rowlandson’s designs were then etched by the artist on copper and afterward aquatinted usually by a professional engraver, the impressions being finally colored by hand. Rowlandson’s drawings seemed perfect for Ackerman’s new Poetical Magazine, however Ackerman requested that a narrative accompany the illustrations, so Rowlandson commissioned British writer, William Combe (1741 - 1823) to compose the whimsical narratives to Rowlandson’s renderings. In so doing, Rowlandson provided a colored sketch a month to Combe. Some of Rowlandson most enduring works are from the plates drawn for the Doctor Syntax series. These hand colored engravings, have been professionally matted and framed, and measure, 10.50 inches H X 12.50 inches W X 01.00 inch D, including the wooden frames. |
Our Saviour In The Garden,...
