Court of Kins Bench, Westminster Hall, from Microcosm of London

Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin

Court of Kings Bench, Westminster Hall from The Microcosm of London

London, R. Ackermann 1808-10

Aquatint

Original hand-colouring

230x280mm

Neat repair to tear affecting image

£100

The publisher and drawing master Rudolf Ackermann (1764-1834), had come to London from Germany in his early twenties. A philanthropist and businessman, the money he raised to help Leipzig after its devastation by Napoleon in 1813 made him a public figure in both England and Germany. The Microcosm of London, which combined the comic genius (although kept on a tight leash by Ackermann) of Thomas Rowlandson who executed the figures and the precise architectural draughtsmanship of Augustus Pugin, was intended to provide an intimate look at the the major buildings and landmarks of Georgian London.