George Rowe

The majority of the following lithographs come from a red album containing prints and information relating to the artist and printmaker George Rowe (1796-1864). Rowe was born in July 1796 and was baptised at St. Sidwell's Parish Church, Exeter. He lived in the city for much of his early life and worked as a printmaker and art teacher at Mount Radford College. It was here that he met Phillippa Curtis, a talented pupil who he was reunited with at Lynton in 1828. They married in Heavitree Church and had 10 children, and Philippa continued to create lithographs of equal quality to her husband's after they married. In 1832, Rowe moved to Cheltenham and established a printing and publishing business, continuing to make prints of his native Devon amongst other subjects. In 1850, the business failed, and he emigrated to Australia, but he would return to Britain in 1858, to settle in Exeter. In 1862 he exhibited eight watercolours in the London International Exhibition, for which he earned a gold medal.