Doctor Syntax drawing after nature

William Combe’s The Tour of Doctor Syntax in search of the picturesque was begun in 1809 and first published in book form by Ackermann in 1812. Together with the accompanying aquatints by Thomas Rowlandson that inspired the poem, it satirises the aesthetic ideals lying behind the picturesque and its frequently pompous followers. The poem tells how Dr Syntax, a curate, sets off in search of the ideal picturesque landscape only to be continually thwarted by bathetic and farcical inconveniences. During the course of the poem the unfortunate Dr Syntax stumbles into a lake while attempting to reach the perfect location from which to sketch a suitably ruined castle, is chased by a bull and driven to distraction by the incessant bleating of sheep.  

The aesthetic concept of the picturesque had evolved in late 18th-century Britain. It favoured the rough, varied and irregular forms of nature over the more rationalist Enlightenment ideas of aestheticism, taking much of its inspiration from the work of 17th-century landscape painters such as Salvator Rosa and Claude Lorrain. Its popularity, however, owed a great deal to a series of essays by the artist William Gilpin who transplanted the ideal of the picturesque from the Romantic paintings of European artists and applied it to the landscapes of Britain. Ironically, while the picturesque emulated organic and natural forms it prescribed a landscape adapted and altered by human intervention. In a much-quoted passage Gilpin commented, without humour, that ‘a mallet judiciously used’ would considerably improve the picturesque qualities of the insufficiently ruined gable of Tintern Abbey. This pursuit of the picturesque, even at the expense of common sense, made it a ripe target for satirists like Combe and Rowlandson.

This aquatint and etching dates from the 1823 edition of The Tour of Doctor Syntax (p. 121). In this scene, an appropriately picturesque setting, Dr Syntax is drawing farm animals and is watched by a gaggle of local people. The absurd, quasi Noah's ark of animals, is in full cry and one can sense impending disaster befalling the poor doctor.

See: British Library, Collection Items, The tour of Doctor Syntax, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-tour-of-doctor-syntax

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator Historical International Art  November 2018