View of Prizes Taken by Lord Howe Coming in Portsmouth 1794

Thomas Rowlandson made this watercolor drawing, *View of Prizes Taken by Lord Howe Coming in Portsmouth*, using pen and ink for the lines, and washes of diluted pigment to create tone and shading. These were traditional techniques at the time, embraced for their portability and capacity for capturing scenes quickly. Rowlandson’s skill comes through in his rendering of the crowd gathered to celebrate the arrival of captured ships. Note the frenetic energy achieved with just a few strokes of the pen. This would have been familiar subject matter to the artist’s audience, who consumed prints and drawings as a form of news and social commentary. However, while the drawing celebrates British naval power, we might also reflect on the cost of these victories, both in human and economic terms. The ships themselves are products of immense labor, requiring skilled craftsmanship in woodworking, metalworking, and sailmaking. War, of course, fueled the burgeoning industries of the 18th century, yet the drawing offers little acknowledgement of the processes of extraction and making on which it depended. Rowlandson’s light touch belies the heavy realities of imperial ambition.