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The English painter Thomas Rowlandson became famous for his socially critical caricatures. His erotic, sometimes even pornographic pictures were strongly influenced by the paintings of the French Rococo.
The son of a respected merchant was born in London, where he later studied at the Royal Academy of Arts, followed by several courses of study in Paris. He started with portraits and landscapes, but the etcher James Gillray, as well as Henry William Bunbury inspired him to caricature painting, which finally brought him attention and success, so in 1784 the paintings of Vauxhall Gardens. The publisher Rudolph Ackermann published in his Poetical Magazine a large number of colored aquatint sheets by Rowlandson, which is based on a special process of artistic printmaking that uses surface etching. Books by Henry Fielding, Tobias Smolett, Laurence Sterne or Oliver Goldsmith were illustrated with drawings by Thomas Rowlandson. English journals distributed his caricatures.
Even as vicious as his pictures seemed to be his way of life. He had a great passion for betting and gambling, which repeatedly got him into financial difficulties. Nevertheless he reached the age of 71 years. He died in his birthplace London. Works like The Toss off, poem and illustrations or The Adulturers discovered still find lovers as well as outrage.
The English painter Thomas Rowlandson became famous for his socially critical caricatures. His erotic, sometimes even pornographic pictures were strongly influenced by the paintings of the French Rococo.
The son of a respected merchant was born in London, where he later studied at the Royal Academy of Arts, followed by several courses of study in Paris. He started with portraits and landscapes, but the etcher James Gillray, as well as Henry William Bunbury inspired him to caricature painting, which finally brought him attention and success, so in 1784 the paintings of Vauxhall Gardens. The publisher Rudolph Ackermann published in his Poetical Magazine a large number of colored aquatint sheets by Rowlandson, which is based on a special process of artistic printmaking that uses surface etching. Books by Henry Fielding, Tobias Smolett, Laurence Sterne or Oliver Goldsmith were illustrated with drawings by Thomas Rowlandson. English journals distributed his caricatures.
Even as vicious as his pictures seemed to be his way of life. He had a great passion for betting and gambling, which repeatedly got him into financial difficulties. Nevertheless he reached the age of 71 years. He died in his birthplace London. Works like The Toss off, poem and illustrations or The Adulturers discovered still find lovers as well as outrage.