The Victorian Age has shaped England and its people. With its colonial possessions, global trading and a powerful financial system, the British Empire dominated the world of the 19th century, but was also known for its etiquette, discipline and the pride of its protagonists. George Derville Rowlandson was born into these very circumstances when he saw the light of day in 1861 in Madras as the son of Colonel George Rowlandson. His childhood in India had a strong influence on him, as he was able to experience the colonial structures, the drill of the garrison and the spatial separation from the majority population at first hand, while at the same time perceiving the vastness and exotic beauty of his native country.
However, Rowlandson returned to his English homeland to study. At first he studied painting at the Gloucester Art School, but soon he was drawn to London, the heart of the British Empire. Here he was able to refine his techniques at the Westminster School of Art, and at the same time became acquainted with the vibrant life of the capital and the lifestyle of a gentleman. Trips to Paris broadened his horizons, yet metropolitan motifs will never play a role in his works. Instead, colonial, military and exotic themes are always at the centre of Rowlandson's paintings, and the Englishman became famous for including horses in his works at this time. Hunting scenes are the preferred motifs of his painting, but his elegant steeds and proud riders also appear in battle scenes, on horseback rides in colonial Africa or while practising sophisticated sports.
Rowlandson painted his larger pictures in oil, but watercolours, drawings and sketches are more common. This is due to the fact that he was working as an illustrator for various renowned magazines in London during his strongest creative period, which certainly explains the strong focus on military and hunting scenes and the frequent use of horses and riders. At the beginning of the 20th century, his pictures were frequently shown at famous exhibitions, and from 1914 Rowlandson was one of the first artists to visually document the events of the First World War in an official capacity. During this time Rowlandson had to endure the most severe blow of his life when his oldest son was killed in combat in 1918. Together with his wife Manuela Francis Annie Cooke, whom he had married in 1898, he mourned the loss of the only 19-year-old. Their second son, who was born in 1904, was spared the horrors of World War I. Rowlandson, whose pictures can be seen today mainly in Lake Worth, Florida, never recovered from this deep cut and died shortly before Christmas 1928 in Hammersmith, London.
The Victorian Age has shaped England and its people. With its colonial possessions, global trading and a powerful financial system, the British Empire dominated the world of the 19th century, but was also known for its etiquette, discipline and the pride of its protagonists. George Derville Rowlandson was born into these very circumstances when he saw the light of day in 1861 in Madras as the son of Colonel George Rowlandson. His childhood in India had a strong influence on him, as he was able to experience the colonial structures, the drill of the garrison and the spatial separation from the majority population at first hand, while at the same time perceiving the vastness and exotic beauty of his native country.
However, Rowlandson returned to his English homeland to study. At first he studied painting at the Gloucester Art School, but soon he was drawn to London, the heart of the British Empire. Here he was able to refine his techniques at the Westminster School of Art, and at the same time became acquainted with the vibrant life of the capital and the lifestyle of a gentleman. Trips to Paris broadened his horizons, yet metropolitan motifs will never play a role in his works. Instead, colonial, military and exotic themes are always at the centre of Rowlandson's paintings, and the Englishman became famous for including horses in his works at this time. Hunting scenes are the preferred motifs of his painting, but his elegant steeds and proud riders also appear in battle scenes, on horseback rides in colonial Africa or while practising sophisticated sports.
Rowlandson painted his larger pictures in oil, but watercolours, drawings and sketches are more common. This is due to the fact that he was working as an illustrator for various renowned magazines in London during his strongest creative period, which certainly explains the strong focus on military and hunting scenes and the frequent use of horses and riders. At the beginning of the 20th century, his pictures were frequently shown at famous exhibitions, and from 1914 Rowlandson was one of the first artists to visually document the events of the First World War in an official capacity. During this time Rowlandson had to endure the most severe blow of his life when his oldest son was killed in combat in 1918. Together with his wife Manuela Francis Annie Cooke, whom he had married in 1898, he mourned the loss of the only 19-year-old. Their second son, who was born in 1904, was spared the horrors of World War I. Rowlandson, whose pictures can be seen today mainly in Lake Worth, Florida, never recovered from this deep cut and died shortly before Christmas 1928 in Hammersmith, London.
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