| dc.description.abstract | Grotesque Being, Polite Death —
Rowlandson’s The English Dance of Death
Abstract
Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) was a famous English caricaturist during the middle eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. His incredible productivity amply covered every detail of the contemporary social life. The most outstanding techniques in his works were the fluent line drawings and those lively figures. The English Dance of Death (1814-1816) belongs to the late period of his career. The book was a collection of pictures created over two years, of which three pieces were published every month between 1814 and 1816. Although most reviews about Rowlandson considered the zenith of his career to be his thirties rather than his late years, The English Dance of Death undoubtedly showed Rowlandson’s unlimited imagination and creativity, and his grotesque humor with elegance.
The artistic creations for the ‘Dance of Death’ and ‘Danse macabre’ have now been in use for over five centuries. The religious edifications of the traditional ‘Dance of Death’ are quite distinct, and meanings of those works were almost the same since the Middle Ages: death leads everyone into the dance, from the whole clerical hierarchy to every single representative of the lay world. Death does not care for the social position, or for the wealth, the sex, the age of the people it leads into its dance. However, the presentation of the Rowlandson’s The English Dance of Death is rather different from those traditional ones. His pictures emphasize the activities of daily life and all varieties of interesting social events with the presence of death. The basic idea of the traditional works that all men will die equally in front of death was no longer stressed in Rowlandson’s creation.
The Reign of George Ⅲ (1760-1820) was designated the golden age of English caricature. The economic expansion of the nation, peculiar political conditions, unprecedented exploitation of prints, and changing cultural circumstances in the Hanoverian era all contributed to the flourish of the caricature. The productions of literatures, artistic works, and music compositions rapidly increased in the free markets. At the same time, the competition among those Georgian artists was fiercer than ever. The works they created must meet the expectation of the society and the need of consumers. All aspects of aesthetics, didactic instruction, and business transactions need to be considered. The reasons for the change in Rowlandson’s works were simply attributed to his personal characteristics by scholars in the past. Nevertheless, the influence of the dynamic metropolitan culture on Rowlandson’s practices certainly can not be disregarded.
The market of English caricatures in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, along with the life and artistic career of Rowlandson will be surveyed in this essay. The societal, cultural, and psychological forces of this specific period are all the more imperative to be examined together with the difference between the traditional ‘Dance of Death’ and Rowlandson’s The English Dance of Death. | en_US |