We are fortunate in exhibiting caricatures of auction sales by two historic firms, both still flourishing. Sotheby’s began in 1744 with Mr. Samuel Baker, who at first held sales in taverns and other convenient places. In 1754 he established himself at York Street, Covent Garden, and in 1767 formed a partnership with Mr. J. Leigh. In 1778 the firm became Leigh and Sotheby. We need only add that in 1804 the business was moved to 145 Strand, and in 1818 to 3 Waterloo Bridge, re-named 13 Wellington Street, which was given up two years ago for more commodious quarters in New Bond Street.
By T. Rowlandson (1756-1827). Lent by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge.
45 [SITE OF EUSTON SQUARE, 1809.] Plate XX.
Watercolour. 9¾ by 8½ in.
Signed “T. Rowlandson.” Written in pencil, but hidden, are the words: “Richard Trevithick’s Railroad, Euston Square 1809.” In fact, the Square dates only from 1825; as late as 1820 its site was a large nursery garden, and a group of farm buildings occupied ground on which the London and North Western Railway now stands. Trevithic, “father of the locomotive engine,” the main facts of whose remarkable career are recorded in “Dict. Nat. Biog.,” must have hired the ground in order to test and exhibit his invention.
In the distance is Primrose Hill, with Hampstead beyond. Attractive design and colour give charm to a subject not easy of treatment.
Rowlandson, trained in Paris and at the Academy schools, was an accomplished artist, capable of something much more refined than his clever caricatures, which most people know by coarse reproductions of them.
By T. Rowlandson, 1809 (1756-1827). Lent by Mr. H. C. Levis.
46 SALE OF PICTURES BY AUCTION AT CHRISTIE’S.
Watercolour. 11¼ by 8¼ in.