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Pidgeon Trap, Covent Garden

Pidgeon Trap, Covent Garden

(English, 1756–1827)
1776–1827
Medium/TechniqueBrush and wash with watercolor over pen and ink
Dimensions27.8 x 43.2cm (10 15/16 x 17in.)
Credit LineGift of John T. Spaulding
Accession number48.110
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsDrawings
Description

Rowlandson was always awake to new opportunities for his pen. The original opera house at Covent Garden burned down in 1808, and a new one with a slightly modified design opened two years later. One innovation were new cheap seats in little alcoves along the ceiling. They looked like rookeries, and were immediately nicknamed pigeon traps, said to be filled with cooing birds.

InscriptionsIn ink, "Pidgeon Trap Covent Garden" and "T. Rowlandson".
ProvenanceJohn Taylor Spaulding (1870-1948, Boston); gift to MFA, January 8, 1948.