Watercolour painter,
illustrator and social
carcicaturist.

He was born in London in 1756, the son of a bankrupt merchant and was educated at Dr. Barrow's School and at the RA Schools, which he entered in 1772.

 

He made visits to Paris in 1174 and 1777 to visit relatives and the rococo delicacy of his pen and wash drawings probably owes something to this French connection.

Rowlandson hereafter made extensive journeys on the Continent to France, Italy, Germany and Holland and in Great Britain, filling notebooks with a mixture of grotesque humanity and sylvan ideal landscapes. He often travelled with other caricaturists, notably, J. Wigstead and J. Nixon (q.v.). His work is alsays tinted pen drawings rather than full-scale watercolour, but he changed his humorous style to do drawings after the Old Masters and figures reminiscent of Thomas Gainesborough.

He was one of the major caricaturists to become and extensive book illustrator, particularly in his work for Ackermann from 1798 in "The Tours of Dr. Syntax" and "The Microcosm of London," in 1808.

In later life, Rowlandson's quality of work tailed off, a not surprising feature of someone who was a gambler, dissolute and naturally lazy. the later drawings often show a sloppiness and lack of interest in the subject and as countless versions of one subject exist this is not wholly surprising.

The artist was extensively faked, but these copies tend to be wooden although the signature is often convincing.

He died in London in 1827.

(from "The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists, 1800-1914" by Simon Houfe)

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