Monro School: Drawings by Alexander, John and Henry Monro 1820–1845
This picture is one of a fascinating collection of works that we have for sale by members of the Monro family. 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 or 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 watercolours that took place around the beginning of the 19th century.
Three of Monro's sons were also talented artists and the works in our collection are principally by these sons—Alexander Monro (1802–1844), John Monro (1801–1880), and Henry Monro (1791–1814)–whose works are celebrated in a recent exhibition at Bushey Museum & Art Gallery. The subjects of the drawings are often local to where the Monros lived, in Surrey and Hertfordshire. (Thomas Monro rented Fetcham Cottage, near Leatherhead, from 1795 to 1805, and from 1807 took a house near Bushey, Hertfordshire, for the summer each year. In 1820 he moved there permanently.) The drawings are very much in the Monro School style, executed in graphite or monochrome wash, and paying attention to the natural landscape, as well as a number being copies after other artists. There is also evidence of the influence of Gainsborough (Thomas Monro's works are said to be reminiscent of Gainsborough), with subjects such as watermills, and small figures sited in the landscape, owing something to Gainsborough's attitude that figures provided 'a little business for the eye'. Much of the Monro work and papers have been kept in the family, meaning that information about this fascinating artistic milieu is still to be discovered.
