Preview
Creation Date
Possibly 19th–20th centuries (reproduction), 1808–1810 (original)
Geography
England
Culture
English
Medium
Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Dimensions
Without mat: 4 5/8 × 7 in. (11.7 × 17.8 cm)
Credit Line
Long-term Loan from the Estate of Boris Blick, 2015
Accession Number
2015.30
Provenance
According to Professor Sarah Blick, this print was purchased by Boris Blick from Stagecoach Antiques (now closed) in Akron, Ohio.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
Obverse, beneath image, lower left: "13 Brooks's Club"
Reverse, beneath image, lower left: "14 Royal Academy"
Creator Biography
Thomas Rowlandson, English, 1757–1827 (artist).
Augustus Pugin, English, 1762–1832 (artist).
Rudolph Ackermann, German, 1764–1834 (publisher).
Description
Obverse: "Brooks's Club" depicts a room (Brook’s subscription room) with green walls and tables paired with red curtains and couches. A chandelier hangs from a vaulted ceiling at the center of the room, with another one visible through the open doors to the adjoining room. At the various tables, men hold cards and play games, one, in the foreground, leaning on the back of another’s chair with a cup in his hand.
Reverse: "Royal Academy" depicts figures in formal wear milling around in a crowded room with high ceilings and walls completely covered in impressive, grand paintings in ornate gilt frames.
“Royal Academy” is from the first and “Brooks’s Club” the second of the three volumes of The Microcosm of London, or, London in miniature. Published between 1808 and 1810 by Rudolph Ackermann, William Henry Pyne wrote descriptions of selected London institutions which were paired with illustrations by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson, with Pugin producing the architecture and Rowlandson populating that architecture with figures.
An original print of “Brooks’s Club” can be found at the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, 1963.30.2590. An original print of “Royal Academy” can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of art, 2002.541.11.
This print appears to be a page taken from the same book as 2015.52.
Reverse