Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756-1827)
THE ROSS COLLECTION FROM KNOCKMORE, ENNISKERRY, WICKLOW (lots 157-193)
Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756-1827)

Monsieur Renault and Madame Culleoni fencing in Angelo's Academy

Details
Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756-1827)
Monsieur Renault and Madame Culleoni fencing in Angelo's Academy
pencil, pen and grey ink and watercolour
6 ¼ x 10 3/8 in. (15.9 x 26.4 cm.)
Provenance
Probably Mrs. Wilfred Jackson; Christie's, London, 6 June 1947, lot 5 (50 gns. to Sabin).
with Frank T. Sabin, London.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 22 March 1979, lot 57.
The Dent Collection; Christie's London, 10 July 1984, lot 35.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 12 November 1996, lot 26.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 21 March 2002, lot 126, where purchased for the present collection.
Exhibited
London, F.T. Sabin, Watercolour Drawings by Thomas Rowlandson, 1948, no. 7, repr.
Reading, 1962, no. 70.

Brought to you by

Jonathan den Otter
Jonathan den Otter

Lot Essay

Rowlandson, himself an amateur fencer and boxer, was a good friend of Henry Angelo (1760-1839), who followed his father Domenico Angelo Malevelti Tremamando (1716-1802) as owner of the leading fencing academy in London. His Reminiscences, 1830, are full of references to the artist. The academy was established in London in 1770 and, after several changes of address, settled in Old Bond Street.
Rowlandson produced drawings and engravings of fencing matches from the 1780s onwards. Versions of the present drawing bear different inscriptions alluding to 'Mme Culleoni', 'Madame Cain' or 'Madame Kelu' as fencing with Henry Angelo or 'M. Renault'. The closest is in the Yale Center for British Art (see J. Baskett and D. Snelgrove, The Drawings of Thomas Rowlandson in the Paul Mellon Collection, 1977, p. 35 no. 115, illustrated), in which the placing of the figures is the same, as is the background, save that it is unfinished.

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