Dr Syntax Stopped by Highwaymen

Thomas Rowlandson (13 July 1757 – 21 April 1827) was one of the most important English caricaturists of the Georgian Era, noted for his political satire and social observation. He produced a large number of illustrations for novels, humorous books, and topographical works. This watercolour is an illustration for the Dr Syntax series, which he produced in collaboration with the writer William Coombe. The series poked fun at the aesthetic concept of the Picturesque. Like the theorist William Gilpin, who had first popularised the Picturesque in Britain, Rowlandson’s character Dr Syntax decides to make his fortune by traveling to quaint locations, to draw and describe them for publication but instead suffers a string of comical mishaps. Re-published in translation, Dr Syntax’s adventures became famous across Europe.