Thomas ROWLANDSON was born in
London, England in 1756. He was the son of an unsuccessful merchant.
He nevertheless received a decent education and travelled extensively
in Europe and the British Isles.
He was to become on the of most famous political lampoonists and
caricaturists of his age - the era of King George III. There was
little censorship at the time & some 'vicious' cartoons were drawn of
political figures. Even Royalty did not escape.
Rowlandson turned his talent as a
draughtsman, etcher and engraver of aquatints, to good advantage.
Perhaps his most enduring works are the plates drawn for the very
successful 'DR SYNTAX' series of books, which we concern ourselves
with on these Web Pages. He was employed by such as Rudolph ACKERMANN
(1764-1834),
publisher for many contemporary artists, including Henry Alken. Their
reputation for the highest quality hand coloured aquatints rests on the considerable
range of fine topographical and other subjects portrayed in their
numerous
publications. These included the English Public Schools, Rugby,
Winchester, Eton, Harrow as well as the Universities of Oxford &
Cambridge. The Syntax Books were to be republished several times over the
next 80 years.
William Coombe wrote the stories in the form of
prolonged poems. Rowlandson illustrated the events during the 'life'
of the mythical Dr Syntax. The 3 books of the series are
detailed in this page, which forms this section of our numerous
Reference Pages. The sequel, The History of Johnny Quae Genus, who had
been 'found' by Dr Syntax before his demise, is also covered here.
It would seem that Rowlandson gambled away the
earnings from his profession! He died in 1827.
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