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149 
After Hogarth there appeared two men—Thomas Rowlandson 
and James Gillray—who contributed no little to the art of 
caricature during the end of the Highteenth and the beginning 
of the Nineteenth Century. The caricature of that period was 
an object of art, and many artists were required to produce it, 
and after the artist came the engraver. The proofs of such 
engravings were delicately coloured, and were sold at from 15/- 
to 30/- each, and sometimes reached £5 to £6—many of 
Rowlandson’s proofs fetched fifty guineas, Only the wealthy 
could afford to buy these caricatures, the other classes had to be 
content with seeing the designs when exhibited in the print- 
seller’s windows. 
An enterprising London editor conceived the idea of letting 
out the prints on hire for an evening, thus preventing the crowd- 
ing at shop windows, and so enabling people of the middle 
classes to view the caricatures in private. 
Passing over Paul Sandby, Collet, Sayers, Woodward, and 
Isaac Cruikshanks, the Lecturer dwelt for a while on Rowlandson 
and Gillray, giving a short epitome of the career and works of 
each. 
Rowlandson acquired some of his qualities and many of his 
faults in Paris, where he spent many of his earlier years. 
Coming to England he followed the profession of portrait painting 
for seven or eight years, and then turned to pictures of the habits 
of the times, which he handled freely without distortion or 
parody. In his picture of ‘‘ Smithfield Sharpers,”’ he depicts 
himself as one of the sharpers—he was, in fact, a great gambler, 
and soon lost a fortune of some £7,000 left him by a French 
aunt. In a dozen years or so he lost his power of invention ; and 
then opened a print shop where he sustained himself by 
engraving the works of other artists, and finally became an 
illustrator of books, ‘‘ The Adventures of Dr. Syntax’’ being 
among the best known. 
James Gillray, though younger than Rowlandson, died several 
years before his contemporary. His first caricature was published 
when only twelve years of age. Pope, in one of his satires, 
invented the type of John Bull still found in modern caricature, 
but Gillray gave him his physiognomy and costume. Several of 
Gillray’s pictures were exhibited on the screen; ‘The King of 
Brobdingnag and Gulliver ’’—za series of sketches caricaturing 
George III. and Napoleon Bonaparte ; and many others relating 
to current politics and fashions. 
The French Revolution, the wars with France and America, 
were each in turn utilised by the caricaturist. 
