Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
Thomas Rowlandson, 1756–1827, British
Title:
Viewing at the Royal Academy
Date:
ca. 1815
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor with pen and gray and brown ink over graphite on moderately thick, moderately textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 5 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (14.6 x 24.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.1161
Gallery Label:
From 1769 the Royal Academy in London mounted annual public exhibitions of contemporary art. Rowlandson himself was a regular exhibitor until 1787. Here he satirizes the popular idea that looking at art was a civilizing experience. Among the cast of comic characters, a central figure carries a connoisseur’s eyeglasses, but his large stomach betrays a gluttonous appetite. Similarly, the pair on the right bend in the most undignified of postures to get closer to the paintings, in the man’s case to get a more intimate view of a voluptuous female nude. 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)