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Mr. H. Angelo's Fencing Academy At the Opera House, Haymarket 1789

(English, 1756–1827)
(English, active about 1790 – 1820)
1791
Medium/TechniqueAquatint engraving in color, proof before letters
DimensionsImage: 33 x 51 cm (13 x 20 1/16 in.)
Sheet: 40 x 36.2 cm (15 3/4 x 14 1/4 in.)
Credit LineFund in memory of Horatio Greenough Curtis
Accession number62.987
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description

The Angelo family ran eighteenth-century London’s most prestigious school of fencing and swordsmanship, capitalizing on the aristocracy’s desire to maintain martial skills and cut a fine, dramatic figure at the same time. Rowlandson and Angelo were good friends, and here the artist shows two students dueling while the proprietor (fourth from the right) looks on with a critical eye. The result is a tidy combination of social observation and advertisement for the Academy.

InscriptionsSigned and dated in plate: "Rowlandson 1791 "Inscribed in pen lower right: "Pub. as the Act Directs Dec 20th 1790 by H. Angelo No 16 Bolton St."
ProvenanceW. Russell Button, Chicago, IL; purchased Nov. 1962