Thomas Rowlandson
(1757-1827)
Age and Youth
Pen and ink and watercolour
13 x 19.5 cm
Acquired by a Private Collector, Wales
Provenance
Private Collection, USA
References
[1] Ronald Paulson has demonstrated that Rowlandson’s figures exhibit a tendency for 'subsidence into lower forms, degeneration or decline,' with human and animal forms echoing one another to depict states of moral or physical deterioration. Ronald Paulson, Rowlandson: A New Interpretation, 1972, p.36
Age and Youth sets vitality against decline in a composition that reflects life’s cyclical progression. The youthful, fashionably dressed couple strides gaily forward, as the woman glances back engagingly at the viewer, her male companion, cane in hand, advances with assured composure, his posture poised and head tipped back in self-possession. A sprightly dog prances ahead of them. Behind, an elderly couple follows, slow and stooping, the old man leaning on a walking stick, the bonneted woman upon his arm, their gazes lowered to their feet. The old dog, heavily inked and washed in drab watercolour, moves with visible effort, mirroring its owners’ diminished energy, and embodying the inevitable decline of age. [1]
Thomas Rowlandson
(1757-1827)
Age and Youth
Pen and ink and watercolour
13 x 19.5 cm
Acquired by a Private Collector, Wales
Provenance
Private Collection, USA
References
[1] Ronald Paulson has demonstrated that Rowlandson’s figures exhibit a tendency for 'subsidence into lower forms, degeneration or decline,' with human and animal forms echoing one another to depict states of moral or physical deterioration. Ronald Paulson, Rowlandson: A New Interpretation, 1972, p.36
Age and Youth sets vitality against decline in a composition that reflects life’s cyclical progression. The youthful, fashionably dressed couple strides gaily forward, as the woman glances back engagingly at the viewer, her male companion, cane in hand, advances with assured composure, his posture poised and head tipped back in self-possession. A sprightly dog prances ahead of them. Behind, an elderly couple follows, slow and stooping, the old man leaning on a walking stick, the bonneted woman upon his arm, their gazes lowered to their feet. The old dog, heavily inked and washed in drab watercolour, moves with visible effort, mirroring its owners’ diminished energy, and embodying the inevitable decline of age. [1]