This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2022
ROWLANDSON, Thomas (1757–1827). A Little Tighter [and] A Little Bigger. London: ca. 1790s. Oil on wooden panel. A pair of paintings depicting tailors struggling to meet the fashion desires of their respective patrons; later reproduced as prints (18 May 1791) now in collections of various institutions around the world, among them The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Royal Collection Trust, and Princeton University. Framed, 16 ½ x 14 ½”. Flaking to frames. Each painting is titled in the artist’s hand at the bottom of the image. Provenance: Dickson Q. Brown Collection (label on verso of A Little Tighter). Grego, vol. I 292–93. Thomas Rowlandson began his artistic studies at the Royal Academy in 1772 and from there traveled freely throughout Europe, making humorous caricatures of the personalities with whom he crossed paths along the way. Success eluded him until 1789, when a drawing he created of Vauxhall was included in the Royal Academy exhibition. Following his death in 1827 his works became highly collectible throughout Europe, with one of his most notable collectors being Dickson Q. Brown. In 1928 Brown donated most of his collection of Rowlandson’s works to his alma mater Princeton University, though he continued to collect until his own death eleven years later. Oil paintings by Rowlandson are considered to be extremely rare, with only a handful held in institutions worldwide.