Live Auction 5905Christie's Interiors
Christie’s roundel
Lot 427

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)

The Blind Piper

Closed7 April 2009

Price Realised

GBP 1,125

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Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)
The Blind Piper
signed and dated 'Rowlandson 1800' (lower right) and inscribed 'THE BLIND PIPER' (lower left)
pen and ink and watercolour
8 x 11 in. (20.3 x 28 cm.)

Dr. J. Percy Collection; his executors' sale, Christie's, London, 25 April 1890, lot 1076.
The Fine Arts Society, London.

Specialist note

The title of this work may refer to Iain Dall Mackay of Gairloch (d.1754), the celebrated bard and piper of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie who lost his sight at an early age and whose songs achieved widespread popularity. It may also refer to the blind piper mentioned in The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith, a version of which was illustrated by Rowlandson in 1817.