Thomas Rowlandson
Thomas Rowlandson was a British caricaturist and draughtsman whose satirical eye and fluid line made him one of the defining graphic artists of the late Georgian era. His prints and drawings move between social satire, classical mythology and scenes of everyday life, carried by etching, aquatint and watercolor, often finished by hand. This archive gathers 155 of his sheets, the great majority hand-colored etchings, alongside plain etchings, watercolors and watercolor with pen and ink, with impressions up to 1822.
155 works in the collection · All public domain (CC0)
City View with Medieval Gate (perhaps York)
1775–1827 · Pen and ink, brush and wash
Harbor scene with the tide out, and beached boats
1775–1827 · Watercolor, pen and ink
Harbor scene (1775–1827, Met-Objekt 4213)
1775–1827 · Pen and ink
Harbor scene (1775–1827, Met-Objekt 4214)
1775–1827 · Pen and ink
Landscape with Oxen and Felled Tree
1775–1827 · Graphite, pen and ink
The Inn at the Ford
1775–1827 · Watercolor
Landscape with rushing stream and a couple on the bank, frightened by a snake
1775–1827 · Watercolor, pen and ink
The Social Day
1775–1827 · Graphite, with blind scoring, and on verso, graphite blacking for tracing
Woman Talking to a Seated Male Nude
1775–1827 · Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash
Herd of Deer under an Oak Tree
1775–1827 · Pen and brush, red and gray watercolor
The Connoisseur (1780–1800)
1780–1800 · Watercolor, pen and ink, brush and wash
Going to Ivy Bridge
1780–1827 · Watercolor
Street Scene: Vendor of Brushes
1780–1827 · Watercolor
Nude Couple Embracing (1780–1827, Met-Objekt 4177)
1780–1827 · Watercolor
The Sailor's Return from Active Service
1780–1827 · Watercolor
Venus, Anchises and Cupid
1780–1827 · Watercolor
Standing Nude Man Supporting Fainting Female (Ludovisi Gaul in the Uffizi)
1780–1827 · Watercolor
Migrants
1780–1827 · Watercolor
Nude Couple Embracing (1780–1827, Met-Objekt 4182)
1780–1827 · Watercolor
The Reception
1780–1827 · Watercolor, pen and ink, brush and wash
Downlands, Sussex
1780–1827 · Watercolor, pen and ink, brush and wash
The Saw-Setter
1780–1827 · Watercolor, pen and ink, brush and wash
Wooded hillside with deer
1780–1827 · Pen and brown ink, brush and wash, graphite
Study of Trees
1780–1827 · Pen and brown ink
Wooded Landscape with Ruins
1780–1827 · Pen and gray ink, brush and wash
Hilly landscape with rocks
1780–1827 · Pen and ink, brush and wash
The Drawing Lesson
1780–1827 · Charcoal over chalk
St. Austle, Cornwall
1780–1827 · Watercolor, graphite, pen and ink
Farming scene
1780–1827 · Watercolor, graphite, pen and ink
Landscape (1780–1827)
1780–1827 · Watercolor, graphite, pen and ink
Tavern Scene
1780–1827 · Watercolor, graphite, pen and ink
Stable Yard with Horses
1784–1795 · Pen and gray ink, brush and gray wash
The Barber's Shop
1785–1805 · Watercolor, pen and ink
Italian Affectation, Real Characters (1786–91)
1786–91 · Hand-colored etching
Civility
1787 · Etching and aquatint
Diana and Her Nymphs Spied on by Satyrs
1790–1799 · Etching and stipple, hand-colored
A Gaming Table at Devonshire House
1791 · Pen and ink, brush and wash, watercolor
Seaport
1792 · Pen and brown Ink
Covent Garden Theatre (1792)
1792 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Carmarthen Castle, Wales
1797 · Watercolor, pen and ink
Venus of Urbino
1799 · Etching and stipple, printed in brown ink
Study for "A charm for democracy, reviewed, analyzed, and destroyed January 1, 1799" (recto and verso)
1799 · Pen and gray ink, brush and gray wash, over graphite (recto); graphite (verso)
Serpent Attacking a Naked Man
1799 · Etching and stipple
Buonaparte First Consul of France
1800–04 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
The Successful Fortune Hunter, or Captain Shelalee Leading Miss Marrowfat to the Temple of Hymen
1802 · Hand-colored etching
The Exhibition "Stare-Case"
1811? · Etching, hand colored
The Tailor
1814 · Watercolor, pen and ink
Tracing of scene from Dr. Syntax (1819)
1819 · Graphite
Dr. Syntax Loses His Wig
1820 · Graphite on tracing paper
Dr. Syntax and the Superannuated Fox Hunters
1820 · Graphite on tracing paper
Beauty and the Beast
18th–19th century · Watercolor
A Couple at Table with Servants
18th–19th century · Watercolor, pen and brown ink
Dr. Syntax with a Balky Horse Before an Inn
18th–19th century · Watercolor, pen and ink
A Blacksmith
18th–19th century · Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash
Public Characters
April 1, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
Four Wheel Chaise (April 10, 1785, Met-Objekt 6061)
April 10, 1785 · Etching with stipple
Four Wheel Chaise (April 10, 1785, Met-Objekt 6062)
April 10, 1785 · Etching with stipple
The Syrens
April 10, 1787 · Etching aquatint and stipple
The Devonshire, or Most Approved Method of Securing Votes
April 12, 1784 · Hand-colored etching
Taste (April 2, 1801, Met-Objekt 4310)
April 2, 1801 · Etching
Taste (April 2, 1801, Met-Objekt 4311)
April 2, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
Wit's Last Stake, or the Cobbling Voters and Abject Canvassers
April 22, 1784 · Hand-colored etching
![Thomas Rowlandson — Kings Place, or a View of M [Fox's] Best Friends](https://oldart.vernisio.com/archiv/Thomas_Rowlandson/Thomas_Rowlandson_Kings_Place_or_a_View_of_M_Foxs_Best_Friends_April_22_1784_klein.jpg)
Kings Place, or a View of M [Fox's] Best Friends
April 22, 1784 · Etching
The Departure
April 29, 1784 · Etching; undescribed early state
The Two Patriotic Duchesses on Their Canvass
April 3, 1784 · Etching
The Incurable (April 4, 1784, Met-Objekt 4289)
April 4, 1784 · Hand-colored etching
The Incurable (April 4, 1784, Met-Objekt 4290)
April 4, 1784 · Etching
The Last Drop
April 5, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
The Honey Moon (The English Dance of Death, plate 13)
August 1, 1814 · Etching and aquatint with watercolor
Domestic Shaving
August 21, 1786 · Stippled etching
A Jemmy
December 1, 1790 · Etching and aquatint
A Jessamy
December 1, 1790 · Etching and aquatint
A Smart
December 1, 1790 · Etching and aquatint
The State Watchman Discovered by the Genius of Britain Studying Plans for the Reduction of America
December 10, 1781 · Etching
Filial Affection, or a Trip to Gretna Green
December 15, 1785 · Hand-colored etching with aquatint
Courtship in High Life
December 15, 1785 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
The Monkey Room in the Tower
December 20, 1799 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Swearing a Bastard Child!
December 20, 1800 · Hand-colored etching
Great Cry and Little Wool (December 22, 1783, Met-Objekt 4285)
December 22, 1783 · Etching
Great Cry and Little Wool (December 22, 1783, Met-Objekt 4286)
December 22, 1783 · Hand-colored etching
The Political Hydra
December 26, 1788 · Hand-colored etching
A Touch on the Times (December 29, 1788, Met-Objekt 4259)
December 29, 1788 · Hand-colored etching
A Touch on the Times (December 29, 1788, Met-Objekt 4264)
December 29, 1788 · Hand-colored etching (impression blurred in printing)
An Artist Travelling in Wales
February 10, 1799 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Odd Characters
February 16, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
Britannia Roused, or the Coalition Monsters Destroyed
February 3, 1784 · Etching
The Infant Hercules
February 3, 1784 · Hand-colored etching
Billy Lackbeard and Charley Blackbeard playing at Football
February 7, 1784 · Hand-colored etching
Mr. Bullock's Exhibition of Laplanders
February 8, 1822 · Hand-colored aquatint and etching
Private Amusement
January 1, 1786 · Etching
A Counciller
January 1, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
Exhibition Room, Somerset House
January 1, 1808 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Exhibition at Bullock's Museum of Bonaparte's Carriage Taken at Waterloo
January 10, 1816 · Hand-colored etching
The Brilliants
January 15, 1801 · Etching and aquatint
Oddities (January 1792)
January 1792 · Hand-colored etching
Oddities (January 1794)
January 1794 · Hand-colored etching
Mock Turtle
January 24, 1785 · Hand-colored etching
Box Lobby Loungers
January 5, 1811 · Hand-colored etching
The Fall of Achilles
January 7, 1785 · Etching
Le Brun Travested, or Caricatures of the Passions
January–February 1800 · Etching, printed in brown ink, some hand-colored
Light Summer Hat and Fashionable Walking Sticks for the Year 1801
July 10, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
The Sot (The English Dance of Death, plate 12)
July 1814 · Etching and aquatint with watercolor
Covent Garden Theatre (July 20, 1786)
July 20, 1786 · Hand-colored etching
Collar'd Pork
July 25, 1800 · Hand-colored etching
Connoisseurs
June 20, 1799 · Hand-colored etching
Vaux-hall
June 28, 1785 · Engraving and aquatint
Sly-Boots
June 5, 1786 · Etching
The Apostate Jack Robinson, The Political Rat Catcher–N.B. Rats Taken Alive!
March 1, 1784 · Hand-colored etching
Humbugging, or Raising the Devil
March 12, 1800 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
The Golden Apple, or the Modern Paris
March 2, 1785 · Etching
The Surprising Irish Giant of St. James's Street
March 27, 1785 · Hand-colored etching
The Carter and the Gipsies
May 10, 1815 · Hand-colored etching
The Journalist, With a View of Auckinleck–or the Land of Stones (Picturesque Beauties of Boswell, Part the First)
May 15, 1786 · Etching
Walking Up the High Street, Edinburgh (Picturesque Beauties of Boswell, Part the First)
May 15, 1786 · Etching
A Little Bigger
May 18, 1819 · Hand-colored etching
Six Stages of Mending a Face, Dedicated with respect to the Right Hon-ble. Lady Archer
May 29, 1792 · Hand-colored etching
Walking Sticks and Round-A-Bouts for the Year 1801
May 8, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
Lust and Avarice
November 29, 1788 · Hand-colored etching
The Sad Discovery; or, the Graceless Apprentice
November 30, 1785 · Etching
A Cully Pillag'd
November 30, 1785 · Etching
Intrusion on Study or The Painter Disturbed
November 30, 1785 · Etching
Comfort in the Gout
November 30, 1785 · Hand-colored etching
A Lady in Limbo, or Jew Bail Rejected
November 30, 1785 · Etching and stipple
The Sad Discovery of the Graceless Apprentice (November 30, 1785, Met-Objekt 6067)
November 30, 1785 · Etching
The Sad Discovery of the Graceless Apprentice (November 30, 1785, Met-Objekt 6068)
November 30, 1785 · Etching
Two Penny Cribbage
October 1, 1810 · Hand-colored etching
John Bull at the Italian Opera
October 2, 1811 · Etching, hand colored
Italian Affectation, Real Characters (September 1, 1780)
September 1, 1780 · Etching
Light Summer Cloathing
September 10, 1801 · Etching
The Parachute or a Sage Lady's Second Experiment
September 1785 · Hand-colored etching
Looking at the Comet till You Get a Crick in the Neck
September 20, 1811 · Hand-colored etching
Bookseller and Author
September 25, 1784 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Sr. Samuel House
[1780] reissued 1786–91 · Hand-colored etching with roulette; second state of second version
![Thomas Rowlandson — A Sale of English-Beauties in the East Indies ([May 10, 1811], reprint, Met-Objekt 4410)](https://oldart.vernisio.com/archiv/Thomas_Rowlandson/Thomas_Rowlandson_A_Sale_of_English-Beauties_in_the_East_Indies_May_10_1811_reprint_klein.jpg)
A Sale of English-Beauties in the East Indies ([May 10, 1811], reprint, Met-Objekt 4410)
[May 10, 1811], reprint · Hand-colored etching
A Sale of English-Beauties in the East Indies ([May 10, 1811], reprint, Met-Objekt 4411)
[May 10, 1811], reprint · Hand-colored etching
Shipyard, Greenwich
before 1791 · Reed pen and brown ink
Which Way Shall I Turn Me? How Can I Decide?
ca. 1780 · Etching
The Q A loaded with the spoils of India and Britain, March 6, 1788
ca. 1788 · Pen and ink
How to Escape Losing
ca. 1791 · Pen and gray ink, brush and wash
The Comforts of Bath: A Public Breakfast
ca. 1798 · Watercolor, graphite, pen and ink
Unused study for a plate to "Hungarian and Highland Broadsword Exercise"
ca. 1799 · Watercolor, pen and ink
An Irish Howl
ca. 1799 · Pen and brush, with two different inks
The Review
ca. 1800 · Watercolor, pen and ink, brush and wash
![Thomas Rowlandson — The Sculptor [Preparations for the Academy, Old Joseph Nollekens and his Venus] (ca. 1800, Met-Objekt 4273)](https://oldart.vernisio.com/archiv/Thomas_Rowlandson/Thomas_Rowlandson_The_Sculptor_Preparations_for_the_Academy_Old_Jose_ca._1800_klein.jpg)
The Sculptor [Preparations for the Academy, Old Joseph Nollekens and his Venus] (ca. 1800, Met-Objekt 4273)
ca. 1800 · Hand-colored etching
The Sculptor [Preparations for the Academy, Old Joseph Nollekens and his Venus] (ca. 1800, Met-Objekt 4275)
ca. 1800 · Hand-colored etching
Easterly Winds
ca. 1810 · Watercolor, pen and ink
Going Sick to the Rear
ca. 1815 · Pen and purple and brown ink
Fairlop Fair, Essex
ca. 1816 · Pen and brown and gray inks, with watercolor
Tracing of scene from Dr. Syntax (ca. 1819)
ca. 1819 · Fragment of darkened tracing paper
Pleasure of a Poste aux Anes, from Sentimental Travels
ca. 1821 · Watercolor, pen and ink
All Fours
first published March 14, 1783 [a later reissue?] · Hand-colored etching and engraving
The Squire's Kitchen
late 18th–early 19th century · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, watercolor
Ships and Sailors
late 18th–early 19th century · Watercolor
Figures by the Seashore
late 18th–early 19th century · Watercolor, pen and brown ink
A Military Review
late 18th–early 19th century · Pen and black ink