Vauxhall Gardens

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) loved to depict high and low life in England at the time. Many of his drawings and watercolours are on a comical theme.

The Vauxhall gardens were a fashionable resort, just south of the Thames in London. Here visitors could eat, drink, dance, listen to music, take a stroll and enjoy the sculptures in the open air.

In this drawing it is possible to identify many well known people. They include Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), author of the famous ‘Dictionary’, the writers James Boswell (1740-1795), Mrs Thrale (1741-1821) and Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), and society figures - the Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806) and her sister Lady Duncannon; the Prince of Wales (1762-1830), who became king as George IV in 1820, and his mistress, the actress Mary ‘Perdita’ Robinson (1758-1800); and Admiral Paisley.