Lot 1835
THOMAS ROWLANDSON (1756-1827)
THE GIBBET
Watercolour with pen and ink
14.5 x 23cm.
* The Hogarthian (or Rabelaisian) juxtaposition of death and jollity was a favourite leitmotif in Rowlandson's work. In lot 1834, a pretty young woman with a distrait air sits alongside the wizening decay of her old partner. The fire itself may be an allegory for invigorating energy, simultaneous destruction and the search for some `warmth` in dying embers. In lot 1835, the trivial pleasures of the boating party are literally overshadowed by the gruesome immediacy of four bound and dangling cadavers. The young couple, with newborn infant in arms, ponder both the awesome genesis of life and this awful final revelation.
