A Horse Auction outside The George Inn, Crawley, Sussex

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)
A Horse Auction outside The George Inn, Crawley, Sussex

Pen and ink and watercolour over traces of pencil
21.8 by 29.5 cm., 8 ½ by 11 ½ in.

Provenance:
With Frank T. Sabin, London;
With the Alexander Gallery, New York, 2003;
With the Arader Galleries, New York, where bought by the present owner

This drawing originates from Rowlandson's trip to Brighton (then also known as Brightelmstone) in June 1789 with his friend Henry Wigstead. The following year, Wigstead published an account of their journey entitled `An Excursion to Brightelmstone' dedicated to the Prince of Wales. It was accompanied by eight aquatints after Rowlandson, of which this was the subject of one.

Brighton became a fashionable resort in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, mainly due to the Prince of Wales. The George Inn in Crawley became a popular stop off on the journey as the largest and most luxurious inn in the town and perfectly place halfway between London and Brighton. The old gallows were used for the pub sign and are still there today although replaced by a replica in the early twentieth century. The inscription `Yorkshire Arms' on the present drawing may be a later addition by another hand. The area around Crawley was famous for smugglers at the time and the horses being auctioned were supposedly seized from them.