Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) loved to depict high and low life in England at the time. Many of his drawings and watercolours are on a comical theme.
The Vauxhall gardens were a fashionable resort, just south of the Thames in London. Here visitors could eat, drink, dance, listen to music, take a stroll and enjoy the sculptures in the open air.
In this drawing it is possible to identify many well known people. They include Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), author of the famous ‘Dictionary’, the writers James Boswell (1740-1795), Mrs Thrale (1741-1821) and Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), and society figures - the Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806) and her sister Lady Duncannon; the Prince of Wales (1762-1830), who became king as George IV in 1820, and his mistress, the actress Mary ‘Perdita’ Robinson (1758-1800); and Admiral Paisley.
Physical description
The scene is an alfresco concert at Vauxhall with the singer Mrs Weichsel accompanied by a group of musicians entertaining the audience from the Orchestra where performances were held in fine weather. Below them are the supperboxes. The two ladies holding court under the central tree are said to be the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire and her sister Lady Duncannon, and among their entourage are plausibly identified Captain Topham, gossip writer to The World who quizzes them through a glass; Admiral Paisley with eye patch and wooden leg; to the right of the tree, James Perry, editor of The Morning Chronicle in highland dress.
Place of Origin
London, England (probably, painted)
Date
ca. 1784 (painted)
Artist/maker
Thomas Rowlandson (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Water-colour, pen and ink
Dimensions
Height: 48.2 cm, Width: 74.8 cm, Height: 723 mm plain gilt frame, Width: 962 mm plain gilt frame, Depth: 40 mm plain gilt frame
Descriptive line
Drawing depicting 'Vauxhall Gardens' by Thomas Rowlandson. Pen and ink and water-colour, Great Britain, ca. 1784.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum.London: V&A, 1985, p.84
The following is the full text of the entry:
"Thomas Rowlandson 1756-1827
British school
VAUXHALL GARDENS
Pen and ink and water-colour, 48.2 X 74.8 cm
P.13-1967. Bought with the aid of a contribution from the National Art-Collections Fund.
James Boswell described Vauxhall Gardens as 'a place of elegant and innocent entertainment peculiarly adapted to the taste of the English nation, there being a mixture of curious shew - gay exhibition - musick, vocal and instrumental, not too refined for the general ear; for all of which only a shilling is paid'. Small wonder that Rowlandson, a keen observer of human behaviour, was a habitué, finding as his friend Henry Angelo records, 'plenty of employment for his pencil'.
Vauxhall Gardens was Rowlandson's first major attempt at an elaborate group composition, and it is a tour-de-force including more than fifty potentially recognizable figures. The scene is an alfresco concert at Vauxhall, with the singer Mrs Weichsel, accompanied by a group of musicians, entertaining the audience from the Orchestra, where performances were held in fine weather. Below them are the supper-boxes, the figures in the left-hand box once (but no longer) thought to be Dr Johnson and his party. Some of the other dramatis personae are more readily acceptable as contemporary portraits.
The two ladies holding court under the central tree are said to be the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire and her sister Lady Duncannon, and among their entourage are plausibly identified Captain Topham, gossip writer to The World and 'Macaroni of the Day', who quizzes them through a glass; Admiral Paisley, with eye patch and wooden leg; and, to the right of the tree, James Perry, editor of the Morning Chronicle, in Highland dress. The focal point of the main group under the trees is supposedly 'Perdita' Robinson whispering with her lover, the Prince of Wales.
This genre of painting, reflecting the habits and tastes of a sophisticated society at play, was not new, but in the disposition of this fashionable assemblage Rowlandson combines a flair for dramatic grouping with a caricaturist's eye for telling incident. The dominant verticals of the trees and Orchestra building provide an imposing framework in which to weave a rhythmic profusion of episodic and decorative detail. His highly calligraphic cursive style gives the drawing a feeling of spontaneity, as though it were a work of on-the-spot reportage, and the colours too are washed on with extreme fluency and clarity.
It is ironic that although this water-colour is one of Rowlandson's most famous and influential works, there is no record of its existence from its exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1784 until its subsequent re-appearance in a small country shop in 1945, the image being disseminated solely through the faithful aquatint made after it by R.Pollard and F.Jukes in 1785. A smaller version of the painting, with variations, is now in the Paul Mellon Collection.
Margaret Timmers"
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1967 . London: HMSO, 1968.
Full text of entry is as follows:
ROWLANDSON, Thomas (1756-1827)
Vauxhall Gardens.
Pen and ink and water-colour. (48.2 x 74.8 cm.) P.13-1967
Bought with the aid of a contribution from the National Art-Collections Fund.
Note: The spectators have been traditionally identified as, left to right, in the supper box below the orchestra, seated, Boswell, Dr. Johnson, Mrs. Thrale and Oliver Goldsmith; amongst the trees Captain Topham, owner and editor of The World, quizzing the Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Duncannon, the wooden legged Admiral Paisley is on the duchess's right; the Rev. Sir Henry Bate-Dudley, editor of the Morning Post and patron of Gainsborough admires the two sisters from behind the tree, with James Parry, editor of the Morning Chronicle in Highland dress beside him. To the right of centre, Perdita Robinson whispers with the Prince of Wales.
This water-colour was exhibited at the R.A. in 1784 (No.503) and engraved by R. Pollard and F. Jukes in 1785. It was further exhibited at the R.A., The First Hundred Years of the Royal Academy, 1951-2 (No.473). Nothing is known of the provenance between 1784 and 1945 when it was sold at Christie's, 27 July 1945 (Lot 113). Subsequently in the collection of A.E. Pearson of Torquay it was in the sale at Sotheby's, 12 July 1967 (Lot 208, bought in). There is a version with some differences in the collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon (repr. Hardie, op.cit., fig. 213).
See:
Joseph Grego Rowlandson the Caricaturist, I, 1880, p.156.
A. P. Oppé Thomas Rowlandson, 1923, pp.6 f, M.5 (engraving).
B. Falk Thomas Rowlandson, his Life and Art, 1949, pp.74 f, 77 f, 82 f, frontispiece.
F. Gordon Roe Rowlandson, The Life and Art of a British Genius, 1947, pl.1.
Martin Hardie Water-colour Painting in Britain, I, 1966, p.212 f.
Jonathan Mayne Bulletin of the Victoria and Albert Museum,, July, 1968, pp.77-81.
Exhibition History
The Triumph of Pleasure: Music, art and morality at Vauxhall Gardens 1661-1559 (The Foundling Museum 11/05/12-09/09/12)
Canaletto and the English Pleasure Garden (The Holburne Museum of Art 10/07/2007-30/09/2007)
Saved! 100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund (Hayward Gallery, London 23/10/2003-18/01/2004)
Art on the line (Courtauld Gallery, Courtauld Institute of Art 18/10/2001-20/01/2002)
Production Note
Exhibited in 1784
Materials
Pen and ink; Water-colour
Subjects depicted
Caricature; Musicians; George IV (King of Great Britain); Johnson, Samuel (Dr); Pleasure gardens; Goldsmith, Oliver; Spencer, Georgiana (Duchess of Devonshire); Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens; Robinson, Mary; Boswell, James; Social gatherings; Thrale (Mrs); Duncannon (Lady); Paisley (Admiral)
Categories
Entertainment & Leisure; Paintings
Collection code
PDP
