Image of Gallery in South Kensington
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The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque

Watercolour
early 19th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Dr. Syntax Pursued by a Bull; Syntax, still trembling with affright, Clung to the tree with all his might. – Vol. i. p. 40; Watercolour on paper.


Object details

Category
Object type
Titles
  • The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque (series title)
  • Dr. Syntax Pursued by a Bull (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
watercolour on paper
Brief description
Rowlandson, Thomas; Dr. Syntax Pursued by a Bull; Illustration for 'The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque'; Watercolour on paper; English School; Early 19th century.
Physical description
Dr. Syntax Pursued by a Bull; Syntax, still trembling with affright, Clung to the tree with all his might. – Vol. i. p. 40; Watercolour on paper.
Dimensions
  • Height: 4.8in
  • Width: 7.7in
Original measurements converted from fractional inches into decimal inches (rounded to one decimal place). Dimensions taken from: DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London : South Kensington Museum, 1874.
Style
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce
Historical context
The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque is a story of a fictional, rural schoolmaster and pastor who attempts to make his fortune by going travelling, and then writing and illustrating a book about his experiences of quaint and unusual places.

The story is told in the form of verse, written by William Combe, a prolific English writer of miscellaneous prose and satirical verse, and copiously illustrated with colour plates by Thomas Rowlandson. The text was written to elucidate the illustrations and William Combe explains this process in the introduction to the second volume, 1820:

'This second tour is, like the former one, a work of suggestions from the plates by Mr. Rowlandson, though not with such entire reserve as the first. Some few of the subjects may have been influenced by hints from me; and I am willing to suppose that such are the least amusing of them.'

The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque first appeared in serial form in 1809, within The Poetical Magazine, published by Rudolph Ackermann. The work was first collected into book form 'by popular demand' in 1812, and was reprinted a number of times during the following decades, becoming one of the most popular books of early 19th-century England.

This collaboration of designer, author, and publisher went on to produce a further two 'Tours'; The Second Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of Consolation (1820), and The Third Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of a Wife (1821).
Subjects depicted
Literary referenceCombe, William. <u>The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque</u>. England.first published in book-form in 1812.
Associated objects
Bibliographic reference
DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London : South Kensington Museum, 1874.
Collection
Accession number
DYCE.802

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Record createdNovember 9, 2009
Record URL
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