Taste - Thomas Rowlandson
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Description
A satirical etching by Thomas Rowlandson from 1801, mocking the pretension of collectors and the contemporary obsession with exotic antiquities.
Published in April 1801 by Rudolph Ackermann, this etching captures the biting wit of Thomas Rowlandson, a master of British caricature. The composition depicts two men examining a grotesque statue, which the speaker identifies as a Chinese 'Gofs' or deity. The dialogue, inscribed at the top of the print, mocks the contemporary obsession with collecting exotic antiquities, a trend that often led to the acquisition of objects misunderstood by their owners. Rowlandson employs his characteristic line work to exaggerate the physical features of the figures. The two men, dressed in the fashion of the early nineteenth century, peer at the statue with a mixture of confusion and self-importance. One man holds a magnifying glass, a visual device Rowlandson uses to ridicule the pretension of the connoisseur. The statue itself is rendered with a heavy, distorted face and a body covered in pseudo-oriental symbols, reflecting the era's superficial engagement with non-Western art forms. The humour lies in the contrast between the men's intellectual posturing and their complete lack of genuine understanding regarding the object before them. By placing the statue on a plinth in a domestic setting, the artist comments on the social performance of taste among the British middle and upper classes. The etching style is clean and direct, typical of the collaborative output between Rowlandson and the publisher Ackermann, who were instrumental in the development of the satirical print market in London. This work remains a sharp observation of social vanity and the often absurd nature of collecting habits during the Georgian period.
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Taste - Thomas Rowlandson
Artist Biography
Thomas Rowlandson
He trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London and may have spent time in Paris, though the often-quoted two years at a Parisian academy has been narrowed by recent scholarship to a few weeks at most. His technique was fast, fluent, and populated by figures who bulge, lurch, stumble and grope their way through Georgian England. The line is always in motion. Fat men eat. Thin women flirt. Horses rear. Coaches overturn. The world in a Rowlandson drawing is always on the verge of falling over.
He drew for the satirical press, illustrated books (including the Dr Syntax series, which sold well enough to keep him solvent for several years), and produced erotica for a private clientele that was never published in his lifetime. Unlike James Gillray, whose satire was ferocious and politically targeted, Rowlandson's humour was broader and warmer. He drew human beings as comic animals: vain, greedy, amorous and fundamentally absurd.
His subjects included Vauxhall Gardens, the races at Brighton, country fairs, and the particular chaos of London streets. He drew the city as a place where everyone is either trying to sell something, steal something, or seduce someone, often simultaneously. He died in 1827, aged seventy, having drawn everything he saw and gambled most of what he earned.
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Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
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Artist Biography
Thomas Rowlandson
He trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London and may have spent time in Paris, though the often-quoted two years at a Parisian academy has been narrowed by recent scholarship to a few weeks at most. His technique was fast, fluent, and populated by figures who bulge, lurch, stumble and grope their way through Georgian England. The line is always in motion. Fat men eat. Thin women flirt. Horses rear. Coaches overturn. The world in a Rowlandson drawing is always on the verge of falling over.
He drew for the satirical press, illustrated books (including the Dr Syntax series, which sold well enough to keep him solvent for several years), and produced erotica for a private clientele that was never published in his lifetime. Unlike James Gillray, whose satire was ferocious and politically targeted, Rowlandson's humour was broader and warmer. He drew human beings as comic animals: vain, greedy, amorous and fundamentally absurd.
His subjects included Vauxhall Gardens, the races at Brighton, country fairs, and the particular chaos of London streets. He drew the city as a place where everyone is either trying to sell something, steal something, or seduce someone, often simultaneously. He died in 1827, aged seventy, having drawn everything he saw and gambled most of what he earned.
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