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HIGH SPIRITS: THE COMIC ART OF

THOMAS ROWLANDSON

13 NOVEMBER 2015 TO 14 FEBRUARY 2016

PLAIN ENGLISH SCRIPT

THE QUEEN'S GALLERY BUCKINGHAM PALACE

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Welcome & Introduction

Welcome to The Queen’s Gallery. We have two exhibitions for you to enjoy: High Spirits:

The Comic Art of Thomas Rowlandson and Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of

Vermeer. Separate booklets are available for both exhibitions.

These notes contain the same information as the audio-description provided for hearing

visitors. They are adapted from a script produced by Antenna Audio with information from a

number of experts from the Royal Collection whose names are included at the end of these

notes.

This exhibition explores the witty, insightful and irreverent art of one of the most important

satirists of the Georgian age. Rowlandson presented the politics, fashion and intrigue of his

day with a distinctive and vibrant humour. His art captured the spirit of the age through the

day-to-day events of Georgian Britain – it was popular, it was laughed at, and it was

appreciated. This is humour that people clearly enjoyed together, and loved discussing.

Before you start, you might like to watch the short introductory film, with subtitles.

STOP 21: High Spirits

With one hand clutching a bottle and the other holding a glass, the woman in this drawing is

clearly enjoying herself. Her body is animated and her face, in the shadow of her wide-

brimmed hat, reveals a spirited smile. This lively subject is reflected in the title of the work,

and provides the title of the exhibition. It sums up Rowlandson beautifully. It is a very typical

subject for him – a lady who is enjoying her drink. It also shows high spirits in the way it has

been done – it is a really lively piece of drawing. It seems to have been drawn very quickly,

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but very accurately, and with a real sort of flair. Rowlandson was a very spirited

draughtsman as much as he was a spirited caricaturist.

He had a very thorough artistic training. He studied for six years at the Royal Academy in

London, where good draughtsmanship was considered the foundation of art. Rowlandson

continued to produce drawings throughout his career. He was also a prolific printmaker,

producing etchings for a number of publishers. These prints were produced in multiple

impressions and were distributed around the country and indeed around Europe. The

exhibition has examples of both Rowlandson’s drawings and his prints.

STOP 22: A Midnight Conversation

This is one of Rowlandson’s earliest drawings. It was probably made just after he finished as

a student at the Royal Academy Schools. It is a fascinating drawing which shows very clearly

the influences of two particular artists.

The first was his tutor John Hamilton Mortimer, who worked in a similarly intricate and

sharp style. The second was William Hogarth, who was around fifty years older than

Rowlandson. Hogarth was famous for his wry, satirical depictions of contemporary life.

Rowlandson copied Hogarth’s works throughout his career, and collected his prints.

The composition of this drawing by Rowlandson was partly based on the third scene of

Hogarth’s Rake’s Progress. The drunk man on the left, for example, sprawled across two

women, is closely modelled on the decadent young rake in Hogarth’s series. This is scene

about excess and everything is exaggerated.

The characters in this work are all linked to each other in some way – they are individual

portraits but each figure is dependent on other figures. A good example is the woman

leaning over and vomiting on the right of the picture. It looks like she is vomiting into the hat

held by the man who has passed out beside her by chance, but the composition of the

drawing has been very carefully put together.

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STOP 23: Buck’s Beauty and Rowlandson’s Connoisseur

This is a great example of Rowlandson’s fluid drawing style. Notice the multiple outlines on

the man’s legs where Rowlandson tried to capture his exact stance. With a monocle held up

to his eye, he’s a connoisseur, but of what?

As we look into the drawing it is clear that he is a connoisseur of beauty. He is admiring the

woman as he would admire a work of art, through a lens. He reaches out with a gesture of

appreciation which suggests he is admiring the woman’s aesthetic qualities. But the way his

hand reaches towards her betrays his true intentions, as does the position of his sword.

Connoisseurs were often the butt of Rowlandson’s jokes, as were salacious men. He

produced many much bawdier prints on this theme, but in this one he is also making a

reference to another artist who was popular in London at that time.

The drawing of the woman is in the style of the Irish portrait painter, Adam Buck, who

painted very beautiful statuesque women in empire line dresses. He had just arrived in

London. Rowlandson is contrasting Buck’s style with his own form of drawing, which was

much more exuberant. But it is notable that around 1799 or 1800, when this drawing was

made, ‘Rowlandson’s Connoisseur’ was as famous a character as ‘Buck’s Beauty’.

The drawing tells us a lot about the fashions of the time. The woman’s dress is a very typical

style for the 1790s – a style termed “neoclassical”. It has a simplicity, very different from the

extravagance of the 1780s. Fashion had calmed down a lot with women preferring white, and

much simpler, cleaner lines. Rowlandson emphasises this line by showing the woman

standing straight against the edge of the paper like a classical column. In terms of her shape,

she is the opposite of the man. There is a pleasing contrast between the neoclassical vertical

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lines of Buck’s Beauty and the curves in every element of Rowlandson’s Connoisseur’s

clothes.

STOP 24: A Peep into Friar Bacon’s Study (coloured & uncoloured)

Rowlandson was known for his biting political satire as a printmaker. This print is severely

critical of George III and his attempts to meddle in the affairs of Parliament.

The King is on the left. He is dressed in a long, Franciscan habit, in the guise of a 13th

century friar called Roger Bacon. He was a philosopher and scientist who built a bronze

head to try to learn how to protect England from invasion. The head is in the centre, with its

mysterious prediction ‘Time is past, Time is, Time was’. Rowlandson links these words to

the three round images above.

'Time is past' shows the King as an absolute monarch with Parliament having very little

power. In the middle, monarch and Parliament have closer to equal authority but the

monarch still is more powerful. On the right, is genuinely equal authority between the

monarchy and Parliament. George III is trying to bring back the absolutist monarchy with his

long sticks. A group of politicians on the left warn ‘beware’. This print was made in direct

response to the political events of 1784, when George III supported the politician William

Pitt. He did not like the politician Charles Fox who opposed Pitt. The King tried to promote

Pitt against Fox’s interests. This was considered a real abuse of parliamentary authority.

Displayed above is an uncoloured version of the same print.

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In Rowlandson’s day, prints were often available in two versions. A coloured version cost

two shillings, whilst an uncoloured version cost one shilling. Producing a print involved many

people. Rowlandson himself designed the image, which was then printed by a publisher,

whose name is at the bottom right. It was then sent to the colourist; there is a clear

difference in the way that the prints in this exhibition are coloured as compared to the way

that the watercolours are coloured. This is because the watercolours would have been done

by the artists themselves rather than by a colourist. They specialised in hand colouring and

often worked from home. Some accounts of the colouring process suggest that children

were involved - in later years colouring was made even simpler using stencils. In the prints in

this exhibition the colouring can sometimes look bright and even garish, but is actually fairly

sensitively done.

STOP 25: Billy Lackbeard and Charley Blackbeard playing at Football

This caricature shows Rowlandson’s skills as a caricaturist as well as a satirical printmaker.

The caricature is called Billy Lackbeard and Charley Blackbeard. It was made in 1784 and

shows two of the leading politicians of the time: the 24 year old Tory, William Pitt and the

older and more established Whig, Charles Fox. Their political rivalry is shown through the

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very obvious contrast between the figures. As in any caricature, their appearance is

simplified and exaggerated.

Pitt was very tall and thin., He was very studious and scholarly and was quite young for a

politician, so “Billy Lackbeard” refers to his youth. In contrast, even though Charles Fox was

clever he had left university without a degree, and was known for his gambling. Here he has

his dice and his cards in this very aggressive attitude.

The two politicians are playing football, but not with a ball. Between them is East India

House – the East India Company was a source of political rivalry between the two men. This

rivalry would come to a head a few months after this print was made, during the 1784

General Election.

In the campaign leading up to the General Election, Charles Fox presented himself as a man

of the people, campaigning against William Pitt, who was supported by the establishment and

the King. This Election shaped the politics of the decade, and Rowlandson made many prints

relating to it. Despite his caricatures and satires almost nothing is known about

Rowlandson’s own political views. He produced prints for both sides in a political debate –

he was working for money rather than to support a specific point of view.

His prints influenced political debate, but for the publishers who produced them, they were

just products to make money. People wanted images of the politics of the day – the print

sellers realised there was a market for these images so they commissioned people like

Rowlandson to produce prints for people to buy.

STOP 26: The Devonshire or most approved method of securing votes

The woman locked in this embrace is the celebrated high-society beauty, the Duchess of

Devonshire. She is shown here kissing a butcher – there is a meat awl, or spike, hanging

from his belt. During the run up to the 1784 Election, the Duchess campaigned in

Westminster on behalf of Charles Fox, and was accused of trading kisses for votes. Her

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friend is shouting: ‘Huzza, Fox for ever'’. The friend is shown in no better light than the

Duchess, as can be seen from her dress.

Women wore very low necklines during this period, but her neckline is extremely low. It is

an exaggeration by the artist intended to show that she is a woman who is using her

feminine charms for political purposes.

The Duchess denied any wrongdoing but this didn’t stop caricaturists from producing

countless prints of her embracing and kissing voters. Prints like this were extraordinarily

damaging for the Duchess of Devonshire. It was considered unseemly at that time for a

woman to canvass and she was acting in a very unladylike way in doing so. To be seen in this

way was extremely damaging for her reputation.

STOP 27: Filial Piety

It is hard to understate just how shocking people found this image at the time.

George III is ill in bed. In late 1788, when the print was made, the King began suffering from

stomach pains and confusion. He is receiving communion from a bishop. The bishop’s hand is

raised in shock as the King’s son and two of his cronies, all drunk, come crashing through

the door.

The figure with the speech bubble is the Prince of Wales. He wanted to govern as Regent,

but his behaviour was less than ideal, as can be seen here. A rumour spread around that he

and his friends had spied on his sick father. Here he is saying: ‘I’ll see if the Old Fellow is –

here there is a word missing – either mad or dead – yet’. The Prince’s irreverence is also

conveyed by his actions. He has committed a blasphemy by knocking over the communion

wine, which was on the table that he has pushed over as he has entered the room.

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There is a rather amusing detail in this print. It is very well coloured, but the colourist has

failed to remember that when a glass is knocked over the wine should spill out. So the wine

is still at the bottom of the glass.

As entertainment, satirical prints served a similar purpose in Rowlandson’s day as cartoons

do in the popular media today. Collections of prints were kept in albums and portfolios in

libraries. Their owners looked and laughed at them, and sometimes lent them out to other

people. They were often brought out after dinner parties as a form of entertainment, passed

around after the last course and used as a point of discussion. People who did not own a

collection of their own could hire them from print sellers for an evening. It might cost a

couple of shillings to hire a portfolio, to use after a dinner party and return the next day.

STOP 28: The Triumvirate of Gloucester Place, or the Clarke, the Soldier and the

Taylor

Public scandals provided Rowlandson with great inspiration. This print relates to a scandal

that broke in 1809 – the so-called Mrs Clarke Affair.

Mrs Clarke, on the right, was the mistress of Frederick, Duke of York, who was George III’s

second son. He wears the red military jacket of Commander-in-Chief of the Army. During

the affair, Frederick abused his position. Mrs Clarke is holding a long scroll called ‘List of

Promotions’. It became known that she had received payments from people wanting to

enter the army, and had added their names to lists of those being promoted. Although the

Duke signed the lists, in fact he had not been aware that names had been added to them.

During the scandal, more personal information had also leaked out.

The speech bubbles show that the couple are addressing each other in very familiar terms –

'my darling' and 'my dearest'. There was a parliamentary enquiry into the Clarke affair – love

letters sent by Mrs Clarke and the Duke to each other were read out in Parliament and

published. The poor Duke of York really suffered for this and was known as 'My Darling',

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and the 'Darling Commander' for many years – he never escaped from the humiliation of the

these letters being published.

STOP 29: The Brave Tars of the Victory and the remains of the lamented Nelson

This may look at first sight like a satirical print, but unlike most of Rowlandson’s work, it is

not meant to be funny. These men are sailors on HMS Victory, the ship on which Nelson

died during the Battle of Trafalgar. They are protecting his body as they bring it back to

Britain.

This is a very patriotic print, in keeping with the very patriotic feeling in Britain at this time.

Britain had triumphed at the Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson was a national hero who had

died in the service of his country. Rowlandson is tapping into feelings of national pride and

also of national mourning.The serious tone is unusual for Rowlandson.

This is a collaborative work. He often worked with others. Rowlandson made this print after

a design by his colleague and collaborator, George Woodward. The figures in the print are

slightly different from Rowlandson’s normal figures – they have rather large round heads,

and are quite stocky. They are typical of Woodward’s method of drawing which Rowlandson

has turned into a print.

With its patriotic feeling, it is no surprise that this print appealed to the Prince of Wales,

who bought it in 1806, just a month after it was produced.

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STOP 30: Scrap screen

In this exhibition we see Rowlandson’s prints framed and displayed on the wall. In his day,

however, they were usually kept in albums or displayed, like this, on a decorative screen.

It was a really fashionable pastime to cut up prints – including caricature prints – and to

paste them to screens or walls, and to put them into albums. The advantage of pasting such

prints to screens was that they could be moved. In this way it was possible to display

masculine imagery, such as is on show here, but fold up and remove the screen from view

before the ladies arrived.

The careful arrangement of images on this screen suggests it was produced professionally,

possibly by the publisher Samuel Fores. It can be dated to the early years of the 19th

century, and is a very rare survival.

The screens look robust but in fact are quite fragile. More of the Victorian screens have

survived. Only a few have survived from Rowlandson’s time, partly because they are older,

and have had longer to be damaged, but also because they are slightly more risqué. Tastes

changed and people were less willing to have them in their houses.

The screen is made from stretched canvas, covered in cut paper and then stretched over a

wooden frame. As a household object, it had suffered considerable wear and tear and has

recently been conserved. A number of punctures and other damage had to be repaired.

Another problem which had to be dealt with was a layer of varnish which had become very

discoloured. Over time the varnish had become white and cloudy obscuring the colours

underneath. With the cloudy varnished removed and the structural damage fixed, the screen

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was brought back to its original glory. It helps in understanding how Rowlandson’s prints

were used and enjoyed in his day.

STOP 31: John Bull at the Italian Opera

We are at the opera. The singer is dressed in an elaborate Roman-style costume and is

performing an Italian opera. The singer is in full song with his mouth wide open. Some of the

audience have their mouths open too, which suggests that they might be singing. But they

are not – they are actually yawning. There is also a joke here on the viewer by a very clever

caricaturist – he is trying to make the person looking at the print yawn too.

The performer’s wide open mouth also suggests he’s singing very loudly. So too does the

attitude of the orchestra members, who turn their backs with a grimace as they keep on

playing their instruments. At the top of the print, there is someone else who is not enjoying

the performance. He is John Bull, and he is bored stiff. His fists are clenched. He is in great

discomfort.

By including John Bull in the print Rowlandson is commenting on British patriotism.

Italian opera was very fashionable but there were many people who criticised it as foreign.

John Bull is the personification of Britain. He is not enjoying music imported from a foreign

country. It is not native British music.

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STOP 32: Theatrical Leap Frog

Rowlandson had many friends who were actors. This print focused on the great theatrical

event of 1804: the arrival in London of a young Irish actor called William Betty. His first

performance was so eagerly awaited that it sparked riots.

The larger figure in this print is John Kemble, a famous actor of the day wearing a classical

Shakespearian costume. He is being leapfrogged by the young William Betty who was just 13

years old. And Kemble is uttering a line by Ophelia from Hamlet, ‘Alas it has come to this’.

Being outshone by this rising star, Kemble looked for other ways of securing his position.

It is known that soon after William Betty’s arrival in London a rumour went around that he

was actually a girl; this rumour was traced back to Kemble. He was so angry at William Betty

that he wanted to ruin his career.

People followed this rivalry avidly, even the Prince of Wales, who bought this print a few

weeks after it was published. At the bottom, the name of the publisher Rudolph Ackermann

is printed. He owned a famous shop on the Strand where fashionable Londoners went to

buy prints and books. One of his publications is in the centre of this gallery: the luxury

'Microcosm of London', which was illustrated by Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin.

STOP 33: Well at Harrogate, Yorkshire

This is the spa at Harrogate in Yorkshire. At the centre, a woman hands out cups of water to

visitors. They include people using walking sticks, perhaps hoping for a cure. The style of this

watercolour is less satirical than Rowlandson’s prints, because he had a different audience in mind.

This drawing was made for collectors to paste into albums. Rowlandson made a number of them.

He often drew the same subject twice – there’s at least one other drawing of this well at Harrogate.

Collectors bought these works very eagerly for their collections - they were much prized.

Rowlandson’s watercolour technique shows his thorough artistic training. He was a man of his time

and used the watercolour techniques that were common in England towards the end of the 18th

century. This involved first of all making a drawing in pencil or similar other material that could be

erased and then colouring it in. For this reason these works are sometimes called coloured

drawings or tinted drawings.

Other watercolours are displayed along this wall. The borders of the watercolours are interesting –

most of them have a decorative frame, or a border drawn or painted around them. This was a

common feature of English watercolours, during the second half of the 18th and the beginning of the

19th century. The watercolour borders were usually done by the artist themselves. Rowlandson’s

art captures the scandals, customs and fashions of his day, infusing them with life, humour and

colour.

They provide a different way of looking at Georgian society and the political events of the time.

They help us to understand the concerns of the people --their interests and their humour. They are

a different form of art but they were a very popular one. Rowlandson’s art was about the issues of

his time, but it continues to speak to us over two centuries later. His works have never stop being

funny. Even after repeated viewings the humour in them is still clear.

This is the end of the exhibition. We hope you’ve enjoyed discovering Thomas Rowlandson’s wit,

vision and talent today.

This script has been compiled from a tour produced by Antenna Audio with information from the

following experts from Royal Collection Trust:

Kate Heard, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings

Alan Donnithorne, Head of Paper Conservation

Anna Reynolds, Curator of Paintings

If you haven't seen it already, your visit continues in our second exhibition, Masters of the Everyday:

Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer, through the door to the right of the desk. At the heart of this

exhibition is an outstanding collection of masterpieces depicting everyday life in 17th century

Holland. You can collect notes on this exhibition from the desk.

You can return to The Queen’s Gallery, free of charge, for a year, if you convert your ticket to a 1-

Year Pass. Just sign the back and ask a warden to stamp it before you leave.

To find out more about future exhibitions and works of art in the Royal Collection, please visit our

website at royalcollection.org.uk. There you can keep in touch by signing up to our e-Newsletter or

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