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Thomas Rowlandson, 1756–1827, British, Travelling in France, between 1785 and 1789

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Creator:

Thomas Rowlandson, 1756–1827

Title:

Travelling in France

Additional Title(s):

Rowlandson and Wigstead travelling in France

Date:

between 1785 and 1789

Materials & Techniques:

Watercolor, pen and black ink, gray ink, and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream laid paper

Dimensions:

Sheet: 11 5/16 x 17 1/2 inches (28.7 x 44.5 cm)

Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed in pen and gray ink, center right: "LION DARGEANT | ICI ON DONNE BONNE | A MANGER PAR | S. MAIGRE [?] TRAITEUR"; center left: "POSTE ROYALE"; lower right: "DE PAR | LE ROY"; inscribed on mount in graphite, lower right: "French Travelling"; inscribed on verso in graphite, lower right: "No Ref"

Collector's mark, verso: Paul Mellon

Credit Line:

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Copyright Status:

Public Domain

Accession Number:

B2001.2.1134

Classification:

Drawings & Watercolors

Collection:

Prints and Drawings

Subject Terms:

Associated Places:

Europe | France

Access:

Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.

Link:

https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:47360

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Thomas Rowlandson was a regular visitor to France, and this watercolor of a postal coach departing from a country inn was no doubt inspired by one of his journeys. Despite his fascination with the French, Rowlandson appealed to the English taste for mocking their neighbors across the channel. In this drawing he plays on the stereotype of the French as miserably malnourished. The sign on the right promises good food supplied by “J. Maigre.” “Maigre” is French for “thin” and “soup maigre” was the notorious soup without meat. The two figures to the left who watch the coach rumble out of the yard do so with wry amusement. One of them, an artist, is surely Rowlandson himself; the other well-fed Englishman is probably his friend and traveling companion Henry Wigstead.

Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Rowlandson Drawings from the Paul Mellon Collection (Royal Academy of Arts, 1978-03-04 - 1978-05-28) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Rowlandson Drawings from the Paul Mellon Collection (Yale Center for British Art, 1977-11-16 - 1978-01-15) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Mathew Thomas Payne, Regarding Thomas Rowlandson, 1757-1827, his life, art & acquaintance , Hogarth Arts, London, 2010, pp. 112, 113, fig. 47, NJ18 R79 P39 2010 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Riely, Rowlandson drawings from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, pp. 30-31, no. 42, pl. VIII, NJ18 .R79 R68 (LC) (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 54-56, no. 21, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

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