T Laurence

T. Laurence lived in the noisy London of gas lamps and coffee houses, sketching the city’s odd corners—churchyard cats, drunks asleep in doorways, a man lighting his pipe at midnight. They sold these quick, wry prints on street corners for a penny each, laughing when the wealthy bought them as “art” while the poor recognized the scenes instantly. Look for the H. Beard Print Collection’s January 1792 sheet at the British Museum; it’s a whole night’s walk in one sheet, crowded and alive.