The Layton Collection

THE THOMAS LAYTON TRUST & LAYTON'S COLLECTION

Rules for Drawing Caricatures : with an essay on comic painting

Born in London; antiquary, draughtsman and lexicographer, Grose used a method of drawing caricatures based on the exaggeration of the parts of their body and their relation to one another. Lovers’ tiffs, debating antiquarians and cheating husbands all feature in his illustrations, as well as instructions and tips as to how you too could entertain yourself by sketching the society around you.

Francis Grose, 1791. Layton Collection 195

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The Collection

Thomas Layton collected books, coins, and archaeological items (usually described as ‘antiquities’) for 70 years. In that time he had accumulated what has been described as “probably the largest collection of London antiquities ever amassed by a single individual”.

The vast majority of items are believed to have been bought at auctions. Some came to him from his men working on the river. His businesses provided opportunities for finds from dredging, building of bridges and embankments along the banks of the Thames, for which Layton paid good money. Even by the standards of the day Layton kept poor records of where items were found. Despite this, the collection is considered highly important particularly to archaeologists and pre-historians.