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Lot Essay
The present watercolour appears to be one of four known versions of the subject. One is in the Royal Collection at Windsor (see A.P. Oppé, English Drawings in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, London, 1950, p. 85, no. 513, pl. 80), another in the Mellon Collection (see J. Baskett and D. Snelgrove, The Drawings of Thomas Rowlandson in the Paul Mellon Collection, London, 1977, p. 51, no. 193, illustrated). A third version was included in the exhibition Thomas Rowlandson at Spink, London, 1978, no. 6, in the catalogue entry for which they mention a version in the collection of Philip Pinsof, which may be the present drawing.
The engraving of 1784 entitled Poet and Bookseller, and a companion Manager and Author bears the inscription H. Wigstead delint, S. Alken fecit. Wigstead had exhibited drawings with these titles at the Royal Academy the same year and exhibited further drawings in the subsequent year, of which the St. James's Chronicle wrote emphatically that they were clearly by Rowlandson, and ridiculed both Wigstead and the Royal Academy for this pretence.
Rowlandson has used the strength of his characters to tell the story in this picture, as Paul Oppé wrote in his note to the version in the Royal Collection, op.cit. pp. 9-10 'the mere collocation of the two carefully imagined personages - even of the third poor scholar piteously absorbed in the background - is effective in its humour, almost Hogarthian subtlety.'
The present drawing was probably executed in the early part of the 1780s, a time when Rowlandson clearly emerged as a master of line and composition, carefully reflecting the ideas and habits of a luxurious and somewhat decadent age. In 1784 he executed his celebrated drawing Vauxhall Gardens (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).
The inscription 'Murray' in the artist's hand probably refers to John Murray, one of Britain'’s most distinguished literary publishers. Founded in 1768, as a bookselling and publishing business at the Sign of the Ship, 32 Fleet Street. The first John Murray (1745-93) was predominantly a bookseller, supplying books to customers all over the world, including Warren Hastings, first Governor-General of India, however almost immediately he began to publish his own editions; two of the first books to appear were Dialogues of the Dead and a new edition of Walpole's Castle of Otranto. The firm was responsible for bringing to the public an impressive role call of authors, including Byron, Darwin, Walter Scott, Thackery and Jane Austen. Until recently the company was based in Albermarle Street, London.
The subject of the present drawing was adapted by Rowlandson for his drawing Doctor Syntax and Bookseller, engraved in Doctor Syntax's Tour in Search of the Picturesque, 1809, pl. 25.
The engraving of 1784 entitled Poet and Bookseller, and a companion Manager and Author bears the inscription H. Wigstead delint, S. Alken fecit. Wigstead had exhibited drawings with these titles at the Royal Academy the same year and exhibited further drawings in the subsequent year, of which the St. James's Chronicle wrote emphatically that they were clearly by Rowlandson, and ridiculed both Wigstead and the Royal Academy for this pretence.
Rowlandson has used the strength of his characters to tell the story in this picture, as Paul Oppé wrote in his note to the version in the Royal Collection, op.cit. pp. 9-10 'the mere collocation of the two carefully imagined personages - even of the third poor scholar piteously absorbed in the background - is effective in its humour, almost Hogarthian subtlety.'
The present drawing was probably executed in the early part of the 1780s, a time when Rowlandson clearly emerged as a master of line and composition, carefully reflecting the ideas and habits of a luxurious and somewhat decadent age. In 1784 he executed his celebrated drawing Vauxhall Gardens (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).
The inscription 'Murray' in the artist's hand probably refers to John Murray, one of Britain'’s most distinguished literary publishers. Founded in 1768, as a bookselling and publishing business at the Sign of the Ship, 32 Fleet Street. The first John Murray (1745-93) was predominantly a bookseller, supplying books to customers all over the world, including Warren Hastings, first Governor-General of India, however almost immediately he began to publish his own editions; two of the first books to appear were Dialogues of the Dead and a new edition of Walpole's Castle of Otranto. The firm was responsible for bringing to the public an impressive role call of authors, including Byron, Darwin, Walter Scott, Thackery and Jane Austen. Until recently the company was based in Albermarle Street, London.
The subject of the present drawing was adapted by Rowlandson for his drawing Doctor Syntax and Bookseller, engraved in Doctor Syntax's Tour in Search of the Picturesque, 1809, pl. 25.