This week, we delve into the Country Life archive for our My Favourite Painting column — back to 2010 when we spoke to cartoonist Ronald Searle as he approached his 90th birthday. Mr Searle died on December 30, 2011, at the age of 91.
Ronald Searle on Vauxhall Gardens, 1784 by Thomas Rowlandson
‘Obsessed as I am with the magical, satirical pen line, I am very much aware of its roots – its forebears, those who created it with genius: Hogarth, Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshank. But if I must declare a favourite, I confess that I feel closest to Rowlandson.
'That living line, that freshness of colour, that beautiful reflection of rural nature, all stirred in with a penetrating dissection of character. It all comes together beautifully in Vauxhall Gardens.’
Art critic John McEwen on Rowlandson
'No greater compliment could be paid Rowlandson than being chosen by today’s doyen of ‘the magical satirical pen line’. Rowlandson and Searle have the rare ability to make us laugh outright, yet the ‘living line’ is the key, so an artistic tour de force is chosen. Rowlandson was born and raised in London, but his sensibility was markedly French thanks to his surrogate mother, his Huguenot aunt Jane. ‘French sophistication, elegance and delicacy’ were cited by the art historian John Hayes for Rowlandson attaining English preeminence as a draughtsman in his 18th-century prime. Had he painted in oils, his artistic status would be properly honoured.
As it is, we think of him primarily as a cartoonist and illustrator, professions he found better suited to his convivial taste for drink and gambling. Vauxhall Gardens (now Spring Gardens) were in Kennington. At their height in the 18th century, they opened from 7pm between May and September, a place to be seen, to promenade or take a box, to dine or picnic and listen to music, popular and classical. The one-shilling entrance fee was open to all.
Rowlandson shows Samuel Johnson at the table, with Boswell (left) and Goldsmith (right), Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire and her sister Lady Duncannon (centre) and the future George IV with his married mistress, the actress and author Mary Robinson (right). The masterpiece was lost for 160 years and was bought by a keen-eyed tobacco dealer for £1 from a shop near Walthamstow in 1945. He immediately sold it through Christie’s for 2,600 guineas.
My favourite painting: Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Scarfe chooses his favourite painting for Country Life.
Jason Goodwin: 'The flock widened and contracted, filling the whole sky with motion: expansive, pure theatre'
Our spectator columnist comments on the end of summer, as murmurations of wheeling and diving birds herald the beginning of
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The grass is always greener: Follow in the footsteps of Sir Andy Murray and play in The Giorgio Armani Tennis ClassicThere’s no better time of year than the summer grass court tennis season.
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Film star, resistance fighter and civil rights activist: The life and times of Josephine Baker, 50 years on from her deathJosephine Baker was an American-born actress and dancer, who would go on to take France by storm and become one of Europe’s highest-paid performers. She also happened to be a Second World War spy.
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'As a child I wanted to snuggle up with the dogs and be part of it': Alexia Robinson chooses her favourite paintingAlexia Robinson, founder of Love British Food, chooses an Edwin Landseer classic.
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The Pre-Raphaelite painter who swapped 'willowy, nubile women' for stained glass — and created some of the best examples in BritainThe painter Edward Burne-Jones turned from paint to glass for much of his career. James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society, chooses a glass masterpiece by Burne-Jones as his favourite 'painting'.
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'I can’t look away. I’m captivated': The painter who takes years over each portrait, with the only guarantee being that it won't look like the subjectFor Country Life's My Favourite Painting slot, the writer Emily Howes chooses a work by a daring and challenging artist: Frank Auerbach.
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My Favourite Painting: Rob HouchenThe actor Rob Houchen chooses a bold and challenging Egon Schiele work.
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My Favourite Painting: Jeremy Clarkson'That's why this is my favourite painting. Because it invites you to imagine'
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The chair of the National Gallery names his favourite from among the 2,300 masterpieces — and it will come as a bit of a shockAs the National Gallery turns 200, the chair of its board of trustees, John Booth, chooses his favourite painting.
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'A wonderful reminder of what the countryside could and should be': The 200-year-old watercolour of a world fast disappearingChristopher Price of the Rare Breed Survival Trust on the bucolic beauty of The Magic Apple Tree by Samuel Palmer, which he nominates as his favourite painting.
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My favourite painting: Andrew Graham-Dixon'Lesson Number One: it’s the pictures that baffle and tantalise you that stay in the mind forever .'
