Description
Richard Trevithick's Railroad Euston Square 1809 / T Rowlandson. - [1809-1925?]. Drawing: ink and watercolour, on paper, image lined 22x26cm on sheet 25.5x30.5cm. - Title inscribed in ink below image; signature T Rowlandson, image bl corner. - Depicts the circular enclosure and crowds enjoying a demonstration of Richard Trevithick's steam rail locomotive 'Catch Me Who Can' at Euston Square, London, [if at all, in July 1808; site now occupied by University College London]. - Attributed formerly to Rowlandson, but several versions exist, and this may be another, inscribed later, or more probably, a fair copy worked later, perhaps after an engraving of 1871 in Trevithick's biography or another derivative in 1881; style not quite right, and paper derived from woodpulp. - Provenance: Inscribed in similar ink on verso bl, is name and address of HC Levis, 83 Cannon St London EC4; writing and letters TR and E similar to that of writing on and below image. Howard Coppuck Levis died 1935, was writer on bibliographies and prints and may have owned this work; the address code EC4 dates to c1919 on (Levis' firm moved 1921); it was purchased by Captain Trevithick down Charing Cross Road by 1926
More details about this record can be found on the collection website
Image Licence
CC BY-NC-SA
Image Credit
Courtesy of the Science Museum
Location
Euston Square, London, England
Country
England
Tags
Category
Travel & Transport
TWW Comment
Trevithick's 'Steam Circus' was situated just south of today's Euston Square tube station. The 'Catch Me Who Can' was a popular attraction, with visitors paying to ride in its carriages. It closed following a derailment.
