Thomas Rowlandson
(1757-1827)
Cockfighting
c.1805-10
Pen and ink with watercolour on paper
31.5 cm (diameter)
Acquired by a Private Collector, UK
Provenance
Probably the artist’s sale, Sotheby’s, London, 23 June, 1828, lot 92
Elizabeth van Ingen, USA
Private Collection, USA
References
[1] John Hayes, Rowlandson: Watercolours and Drawings, 1972, p.105
[2] The sources for the information relayed by Hardie and Oppé are not known. Martin Hardie, Water-Colour Painting in Britain, Vol.I: The Eighteenth Century, 1966, p.213
[3] A.P. Oppé, Thomas Rowlandson: His Drawings and Water-Colours, London, 1923, p.21
[4] A.P. Oppé, Thomas Rowlandson: His Drawings and Water-Colours, London, 1923, p.21
[5] In Rowlandson’s studio and estate sale held at Sotheby’s in 1828, lot 92 was catalogued as a set of four watercolours: ‘Cock Fighting: Bull Baiting; Billiards; and Instructions to a Jockey, circles, CAPITAL’
[6] For other images of cockfighting by Rowlandson see: plate 18, ‘Royal Cock Pit, Birdcage Walk’, from The Microcosm of London, by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson (1808-11) and a 1797 watercolour, Royal Cock Pit, Birdcage Walk in the Museum of London. An 1801 rapid sketch by Rowlandson of the cockpit in Nottingham is now at the Yale Center for British Art
[7] Alexander Sutherland, Cockfighting in Britain since the Enlightenment, 2024, p.16
[8] Also known as ‘gaffles’ or spurs
[9] Charles Cotton in The Compleat Gamester informs us that ‘in the election of a Fighting-Cock there are four Things principally to be consider’d, and they are Shape, Colour, Courage and Sharp-Heel’ Charles Cotton, The Compleat Gamester, 1674, p.301
[10] In 1835 cockfighting was banned in England and Wales with the passing of the Cruelty to Animals Act
[11] James Boswell, London Journal, 1762-1763, Frederick A. Pottle (ed.), 1950, p.86
An intricate combination of vivid characterisation and controlled caricature by the endlessly inventive Thomas Rowlandson, this watercolour forms part of a series of circular compositions ‘associated with sports, games and pastimes, some of which seem to have been intended for the decoration of screens.’ [1] According to Martin Hardie, ‘a set of four [roundels] illustrating the sports of England was commissioned by Lord Byron,’ [2] while another series ‘of roundels for a screen, was said to have been executed for the Prince Regent.’ [3] Other works from the series, which Oppé describes as striking images of an ‘almost monumental concentration of action and character,’ [4] include scenes of bull-baiting, gamesters, cribbage players, a jockey taking a bribe, a match of billiards, and a portrait of the prize-fighter Tom Belcher. Created between 1800 and 1820, the watercolours in this group are uniformly circular in shape, each measuring approximately 12.5 inches in diameter. [5] With direct references to William Hogarth’s celebrated print The Cockpit - capturing the chaos of a fight in the Royal Cockpit in Birdcage Walk, St James's Park - Cockfighting employs a powerful centrifugal design, intricately arranged so that nearly every form guides the spectator’s eye towards the kill. [6]
In December 1762, a young James Boswell, ‘his pockets filled with gingerbread and apples to provide some sustenance,’ [7] devoted five hours of an evening to the Royal Cockpit and recorded the experience in his journal: ‘The pit and the seats are all covered with mat. The cocks, nicely cut and dressed and armed with silver heels, [8] are set down and fight with amazing bitterness and resolution. Some of them were quickly dispatched. One pair fought three quarters of an hour. [9] The uproar and noise of betting is prodigious. A great deal of money made a very quick circulation from hand to hand. There was a number of professed gamblers there...I was shocked to see the distraction and anxiety of the bettors. I was sorry for the poor cocks. [10] I looked round to see if any of the spectators pitied them when mangled and torn in a most cruel manner. But I could not observe the smallest relenting sign in any countenance. I was thereof not ill pleased to see them endure mental torment.’ [11]
Thomas Rowlandson
(1757-1827)
Cockfighting
c.1805-10
Pen and ink with watercolour on paper
31.5 cm (diameter)
Acquired by a Private Collector, UK
Provenance
Probably the artist’s sale, Sotheby’s, London, 23 June, 1828, lot 92
Elizabeth van Ingen, USA
Private Collection, USA
References
[1] John Hayes, Rowlandson: Watercolours and Drawings, 1972, p.105
[2] The sources for the information relayed by Hardie and Oppé are not known. Martin Hardie, Water-Colour Painting in Britain, Vol.I: The Eighteenth Century, 1966, p.213
[3] A.P. Oppé, Thomas Rowlandson: His Drawings and Water-Colours, London, 1923, p.21
[4] A.P. Oppé, Thomas Rowlandson: His Drawings and Water-Colours, London, 1923, p.21
[5] In Rowlandson’s studio and estate sale held at Sotheby’s in 1828, lot 92 was catalogued as a set of four watercolours: ‘Cock Fighting: Bull Baiting; Billiards; and Instructions to a Jockey, circles, CAPITAL’
[6] For other images of cockfighting by Rowlandson see: plate 18, ‘Royal Cock Pit, Birdcage Walk’, from The Microcosm of London, by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson (1808-11) and a 1797 watercolour, Royal Cock Pit, Birdcage Walk in the Museum of London. An 1801 rapid sketch by Rowlandson of the cockpit in Nottingham is now at the Yale Center for British Art
[7] Alexander Sutherland, Cockfighting in Britain since the Enlightenment, 2024, p.16
[8] Also known as ‘gaffles’ or spurs
[9] Charles Cotton in The Compleat Gamester informs us that ‘in the election of a Fighting-Cock there are four Things principally to be consider’d, and they are Shape, Colour, Courage and Sharp-Heel’ Charles Cotton, The Compleat Gamester, 1674, p.301
[10] In 1835 cockfighting was banned in England and Wales with the passing of the Cruelty to Animals Act
[11] James Boswell, London Journal, 1762-1763, Frederick A. Pottle (ed.), 1950, p.86
An intricate combination of vivid characterisation and controlled caricature by the endlessly inventive Thomas Rowlandson, this watercolour forms part of a series of circular compositions ‘associated with sports, games and pastimes, some of which seem to have been intended for the decoration of screens.’ [1] According to Martin Hardie, ‘a set of four [roundels] illustrating the sports of England was commissioned by Lord Byron,’ [2] while another series ‘of roundels for a screen, was said to have been executed for the Prince Regent.’ [3] Other works from the series, which Oppé describes as striking images of an ‘almost monumental concentration of action and character,’ [4] include scenes of bull-baiting, gamesters, cribbage players, a jockey taking a bribe, a match of billiards, and a portrait of the prize-fighter Tom Belcher. Created between 1800 and 1820, the watercolours in this group are uniformly circular in shape, each measuring approximately 12.5 inches in diameter. [5] With direct references to William Hogarth’s celebrated print The Cockpit - capturing the chaos of a fight in the Royal Cockpit in Birdcage Walk, St James's Park - Cockfighting employs a powerful centrifugal design, intricately arranged so that nearly every form guides the spectator’s eye towards the kill. [6]
In December 1762, a young James Boswell, ‘his pockets filled with gingerbread and apples to provide some sustenance,’ [7] devoted five hours of an evening to the Royal Cockpit and recorded the experience in his journal: ‘The pit and the seats are all covered with mat. The cocks, nicely cut and dressed and armed with silver heels, [8] are set down and fight with amazing bitterness and resolution. Some of them were quickly dispatched. One pair fought three quarters of an hour. [9] The uproar and noise of betting is prodigious. A great deal of money made a very quick circulation from hand to hand. There was a number of professed gamblers there...I was shocked to see the distraction and anxiety of the bettors. I was sorry for the poor cocks. [10] I looked round to see if any of the spectators pitied them when mangled and torn in a most cruel manner. But I could not observe the smallest relenting sign in any countenance. I was thereof not ill pleased to see them endure mental torment.’ [11]