The Monro dynasty in London (1728–1882) consisted of five generations of physicians, four of whom practised at the Bethlem Hospital (known as Bedlam), and the family played a powerful role in the management of the insane in London throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
The most well-known member of this dynasty in connection to the arts is Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833)—whose father John had been a highly cultured man, collector of prints and friend of Hogarth. Thomas dutifully followed a career as a physician, but his real passion was art, and it was at his home at Adelphi Terrace on the banks of the Thames at Charing Cross that, from 1794, he would host young artists on winter Friday evenings, retaining their work and giving them three and sixpence and a supper of oysters. Many of these young students would become the leading artists of their day—including, most notably J.M.W. Turner and John Girtin, along with John Linnell, John Sell Cotman, Peter de Wint, William Henry Hunt, Joshua Cristall and John Varley, among others.
Thomas Monro's discovery of the young Turner in 1791 is described in Arthur Sabin's autobiography: 'riding his cob down Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, the Doctor saw drawings stuck up in the shop window of Turner the barber. He rapped on the pane with his stick, and enquired about them. "They are by my son," said Mr Turner, not, I am sure, without pride. "He is just sixteen and works for John Raphael Smith the engraver, colouring mezzotints." "Send him round to me of an evening," said the Doctor, "and he can get some practice with several other young artists, and make friends with them."
Monro's house became a studio turning out sketches—often in blue-grey wash and monochrome—copied from drawings by more established artists, principally John Robert Cozens, William Alexander, Henry Edridge, Thomas Hearn and Monro's neighbour, John Henderson. Monro taught the young artists accuracy in drawing, accompanying them on outdoor sketching trips and teaching them to see from Nature, as well as giving them opportunity to share ideas with each other. As such, Thomas Monro played a key role in the development of the styles of the young artists—John Ruskin went so far as to say that Thomas Monro was 'Turner's true master'—and his 'academy' can be seen as a catalyst in the change of style in watercolors that took place around the beginning of the 19th century.
