Thomas Rowlandson: Historian of English Social Life
From 1774 to 1827, writes Adrian Bury, the ordinary Englishman and woman were drawn from life by Rowlandson with incomparable industry and vigour.
Whether we celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Thomas Rowlandson this July or next is a chronological detail: we need no excuse for recalling his existence.
The fact remains, however, that Mr. Bernard Falk,1 to whom all Rowlandsonians are much indebted, did discover some hitherto unknown information about his birth-year and family origins.
By consulting the Register of Royal Academy students, he ascertained that the artist was entered as a pupil on November 6th, 1772. When asked his age, Rowlandson stated that he was fifteen on the previous July 14th, in which case he must have been born in 1757, not 1756. The latter year was given in the Gentleman’s Magazine obituary article for June 1827, an article upon which all previous chroniclers had relied.
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