Doctor Syntax Disputing his Bill With the Landlady
In this fifth plate of the series Dr. Syntax has reached the shelter of an inn but, short of funds after being robbed, argues about the bill. Rowlandson conceived the character to mock the vogue for the Picturesque, an aesthetic concept popular in late eighteenth-century Britain. The movement grew from essays by William Gilpin that praised irregular natural forms, influenced garden design and encouraged tourists to visit medieval ruins. Rowlandson's series of twenty-nine aquatints detail the adventures of a country curate who travels to the Lake District to sketch landscapes embodying the popular ideal, a journey punctuated by mishaps. The prints first appeared in Rudolph’s Ackermann’s “Poetical Magazine” in 1809-11, supported by William Combe's poetry, and the following year were republished as a book. This is an 1819 reissue.
Artwork Details
- Title: Doctor Syntax Disputing his Bill With the Landlady
- Series/Portfolio: First Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque, pl. 5
- Artist: Thomas Rowlandson (British, London 1757–1827 London)
- Publisher: Rudolph Ackermann, London (British, active 1794–1832)
- Author: Related author William Combe (British, London 1742–1823 London)
- Date: 1819
- Medium: Hand-colored etching and aquatint
- Dimensions: Image: 4 1/4 × 7 3/8 in. (10.8 × 18.7 cm)
Sheet: 5 3/16 × 8 1/4 in. (13.2 × 21 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
- Object Number: 59.533.1645(7)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Thomas Rowlandson
1780–1827
Thomas Rowlandson
1780–1827
Thomas Rowlandson
1780–1827
Multiple artists/makers
January 1794
Thomas Rowlandson
late 18th–early 19th century
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