File talk:Thomas Rowlandson - Vaux-Hall - Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Mary Robinson, et al.jpg
Information about this painting[edit]
I have been working on the history of Vauxhall Gardens since 1978, and have co-authored a book on the subject, to be published by the Yale University Press in Spring 2011. My research on the original Rowlandson watercolour has produced the following information:
Thomas Rowlandson: (1756-1827) Vauxhall Gardens. (1783-4) Pen and watercolour over pencil; 19 x 29½” (483 x 749mm)
In 1945, the painting was recognised and purchased from a small country shop. A.E. Pearson bought it at Christie’s in July 1945, for almost £3000. The Victoria and Albert Museum acquired it from his estate in 1967. An etching and aquatint by R. Pollard and F. Jukes was published by J.R. Smith in 1785. A hand-tinted lithograph, probably a pirated version, was published by Richard Powell in the 19th century, called ‘Vauxhall 1732’, and naming several protagonists (one of the earliest sources of information). There is a smaller watercolour of the same subject in the Paul Mellon Collection of British Art at Yale. 13⅛ x 18¾”. Two further versions exist in private collections.
The Painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1784, and was probably painted in the previous year.
The Dramatis Personae[edit]
In the supper-box on the left we see, reading left to right, James Boswell, Mrs Thrale (who appears twice), Dr. Johnson, and Oliver Goldsmith. The ‘macaroni’ Captain Edward Topham (scandalmonger to The World) is quizzing Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and her sister Lady Duncannon (Sheridan’s Lady Bessborough), watched by a naval figure with an eye patch and a wooden leg (not included in the Mellon version), always called Admiral Paisley, but Paisley did not lose his leg and eye until 1st June 1794, so it cannot be him. To the left of him, a young girl (a young boy in the Mellon version) holding the hand of a man who could be the comic actor, William Parsons, or Rowlandson’s friend Jack Bannister.
Peering at the two ladies from behind a tree is a figure traditionally, though improbably, identified as Sir Henry Bate-Dudley, the ‘Fighting Parson’, editor of the Morning Herald; he is more likely to be Thomas Tyers (son of Jonathan Tyers the great entrepreneur and proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens from 1729 until 1767) who stands next to the Scotsman James Perry, editor of the London Gazette. The couple on their right could well be the artist himself and his current girlfriend. and to the right of them stands the actress Mary ‘Perdita’ Robinson, with her husband on her right and the Prince of Wales (later George IV) on her left.
Looking up at the singer, the couple on the extreme left, have been identified as the actress Miss Hartley, in company with one of her many admirers, possibly Mr. Colman, but, suggested by their position apart from the crowd, they could also be members of the Tyers family (most likely Jonathan jr. and his wife Margaret, or their son-in-law Bryant Barrett and his wife Elizabeth. The large lady seated at the table on the right is Mrs Barry, the old Madam of Sutton Street, Soho, with two of her customers and one of her girls.
In the orchestra, we can see Jacob Nelson, the tympanist, who had played at Vauxhall since 1735, and died there after fifty years' performing, Mr Fisher on oboe, probably Hezekiah Cantelo and Mr. Sargent on trumpet, and Barthélemon, the leader, who retired in 1783. James Hook, the composer, organist, musical director and prolific song-writer, may be seen between Barthelemon and the singer, the 38-year-old Frederika Weichsell, who was Rowlandson’s next-door neighbour in Church Street, and the mother of Mrs. Elizabeth Billington. Elizabeth had just (aged 18) married James Billington, a double-bass player, in 1783, much against her parents’ wishes.
A number of those present in this scene had already died by the time Rowlandson produced the painting, and the affaire between the Prince and Perdita Robinson was already over.
Although there is no direct evidence for this, it seems likely, because of the dating, and because of the central position of the singer, that the painting was created by Rowlandson as a retirement gift for Frederika Weichsel, whether from him personally, or specially commissioned by the proprietors of the gardens.
FURTHER READING[edit]
- Jonathan Mayne, 'Rowlandson at Vauxhall', in the Victoria & Albert Museum Bulletin, July 1968, Vol.IV, number 3. pp.77-81.
- Henry Angelo, 'Reminiscences', 1830, vol.II. p.1
- John Baskett & Dudley Snelgrove, 'The Drawings of Thomas Rowlandson in the Paul Mellon Collection'. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1977. pp.13-14, plate 12.
- John Hayes, 'Rowlandson Watercolours and Drawings', London: Phaidon Press, 1972. pp.80-81, pl.16, 17.
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Vauxhallgardens (talk • contribs) 11:53, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
Sources[edit]
p. 24 (public domain)
Again we see the enchanting Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Duncannon, "the admired of all admirers," this time amidst the gay heterogeneous crowd in the grove of Vauxhall Gardens (p. 78) in Rowlandson's vivaciously pictorial record of that most popular of London's pleasure haunts. It is on the authority of Harry Angelo, the fencing-master, who so frequently spent his evenings at Vauxhall in company with the artist, and whose vivid "Reminiscences" revive the past, that we identify the celebrated sisters as well as other noteworthy persons in the gathering by the Orchestra.
All are supposed to be listening to the singing of popular Mrs. Weichsel. mother of the more famous Mrs. Billington, accompanied by a splendid band comprising some of the principal instrumentalists of the day, led by either Pieltain or Barthelemon, and conducted by James Hook, one of whose numerous songs, perhaps, is actually being sung. But the presence of the famous duchess is apparently too great a counter-attraction, and the music is receiving little attention from those near enough to indulge in a good stare.
Prominent in the foreground is Captain Topham, the macaroni, who writes scandalous gossip for the WORLD, and looks capable of manufacturing it to order ; then, there are jovial, old, one-legged Admiral Paisley ; James Perry, of The Morning CHRONICLE, absurdly affecting a Scottish garb ; and, behind the Duchess, the Rev. Sir Bate Dudley, editor of The Morning Post, known as the " Fighting Parson," who in these Gardens of Vauxhall chivalrously thrashed two of an insolent party who were offensively ogling Mrs. Hartley, the beautiful and gifted actress whom Reynolds delighted to paint. So you see he deserved to be made a baronet and Canon of Ely Cathedral. But Angelo says that George of Wales is here also. Then that must be he on the right, playing a lagging Florizel to poor Perdita, the fair actress Mary Robinson, whose escort is a singularly horrid old man.
Rowlandson shows us Vauxhall in its heyday, and if you would have the essence of all contemporary records and descriptions distilled in a modem essay that shall bring to you the actual charm of old Vauxhall Gardens with the various Walks, the Rotunda, decorated by Francis Hayman's paintings, the Orchestra with its fine organ, the pavilions, alcoves and expensive suppers, and, above all, the social atmosphere, you have only to turn to Mr. Austin Dobson's "Eighteenth-Century Vignettes."
But do not, I pray, let even that delightful essayist persuade you that the vulgar party supping in the alcove under the Orchestra is composed of Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, Boswell and Mrs. Thrale, albeit they had all visited Vauxhall at times, and Goldsmith particularly enjoyed himself there. The mere date of Goldsmith's death would be enough to make the supposition of his being of that party impossible. Angelo was surely nodding when he suggested it.
