The Microcosm of London. Military College, Chelsea

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 major buildings and landmarks of Georgian London.