Chris Beetles Gallery

The Gamesters

Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827)

Price

£8,500

Medium

Ink and watercolour

Dimensions

5 ½ x 7 ½ inches

Exhibited

'Bliss Was It in That Dawn To Be Alive, 1750-1850', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, October 2008, no 71;
'Rowlandson and His Time', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, September-October 2009, no 71;
'The Illustrators: The British Art of Illustration 1791-2024', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, November 2024-January 2025, no 4

The fashion of the gamblers and style of the present drawing suggests it was likely produced in the late 1780s to early 1790s, a period when Thomas Rowlandson was gambling away his inheritance. Rowlandson produced a number of drawings and prints of the debauched and chaotic gambling dens that he frequented. The more quiet and mannered gamblers depicted here hints at this drawing likely being set in a gentleman’s club, such as Brooks.

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