Alice Loxton

Uproar! Satire, Scandal & Printmakers in Georgian London

London 1772, a young artist called Thomas Rowlandson begins his studies at the Royal Academy.

Within a few years two other artists would join him in Piccadilly, turning satire into an artform, taking on the British establishment and forever changing the way we view power.

Set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French revolution, American independence and the Napoleonic Wars, Uproar! follows the satirists as they lampoon those in power, from the Prince Regent to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

Their prints and illustrations deconstruct the political and social landscape with surreal and razor-sharp wit, as the three men vie with each other to create the most iconic images of the day.

Alice will discuss how Rowlandson and his gang profoundly altered British humour, setting the stage for everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Private Eye and Spitting Image, and ask us to reappraise everything we thought we knew about genteel Georgian London and see it for what it really was – a time of uproar.

Due to unforeseen circumstances Dan Snow will no longer be appearing with Alice.