Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756-1827)
Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756-1827)

A squall in Hyde Park, London

Details
Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756-1827)
A squall in Hyde Park, London
pencil, pen and black ink and watercolour, on the artist's original mount
13 5/8 x 18 3/8 in. (34.5 x 46.7 cm.)
Provenance
with Sabin Galleries, London.
Mrs Howard Greenley; Sotheby's, New York, 31 May 1945, lot 29.
with R.E. Lewis, San Francisco, 1969, no. 13.
Thomas Peter Hughes, Furneaux Pelham Hall, Hertfordshire, and by descent to the present owner.
Literature
J. Grego, Rowlandson the Caricaturist, London, 1880, II, pp. 302-4.
B. Falk, Thomas Rowlandson: His Life and Art, New York, 1952, pp. 103-4, 198.
R. Paulson, Rowlandson: A new interpretation, New York, 1972, p. 123, n. 23.
For the aquatint see Apollo, London, X, 55, July 1929, p. 24.
Engraved
T. Rowlandson and T. Malton, 1791, as 'A Sudden Squall in Hyde Park'.

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Benjamin Peronnet
Benjamin Peronnet

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Lot Essay

Falk said of the present watercolour 'there scarcely exists a finer example of Rowlandson's gift for capturing the spirit and movement of a violently agitated crowd. Anxious as he is fully to display his powers as a draughtsman, he appears no less concerned to exploit his favourite mirth-making device in what is an unrivalled opportunity for expression'.

The watercolour, dated by Grego to 1791, depicts Richard Barry, 7th Earl of Barrymore, bravely steering his phaeton through a chaotic crowd fleeing from a miniature storm in Hyde Park, to ensure that the Prince Regent, visible towards the centre of the sheet wearing a blue frock coat astride his horse, being followed by his loyal servant, can make a safe journey to his home at Carlton House on Pall Mall. The scene is filled with Rowlandson's characteristic figures, fashionable and grotesque, well-turned out and in a state of disarray (for example the figure to the right whose wig has blown off in the wind), the pandemonium amplified by the barking dog.

For a watercolour by Rowlandson of figures outside a coaching inn see lot 128.

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