Thomas Malton junior was the son of an architectural draughtsman and writer on perspective who exhibited drawings at the Incorporated Society of Artists and at the Royal Academy. Malton the younger was placed with the architect James Gandon and admitted to the Royal Academy Schools as an architectural student in 1773, where he was awarded a silver medal in the following year and in 1782 a gold for a theatre design. He was a constant Academy exhibitor, chiefly of views of London streets and buildings, very carefully drawn in Indian ink and tinted; figures added, it is believed, by Francis Wheatley. He also designed scenery for Covent Garden Theatre and was noted for his drawing-school where the young Turner and Girtin were to undergo a course of drawing in perpective and were taught strict accuracy in architectural detail and the art of representing buildings in a convincing way.

The Picturesque Tour is remarkable, in that the 100 large plates were all engraved and aquatinted by the artist in person. The secret of the aquatint process, rediscovered in France in 1768 by Le Prince, had crossed the Channel with Charles Greville and in 1774 was passed on to Paul Sandby, who dubbed it 'aquatinta' and applied it to his 24 Views in Wales and four Views of Warwick Castle published 1774 to 1777. Malton's project was on an altogether larger scale as it was not only the first considerable collection of London topography and architecture engraved in aquatint but also the first large British assembly of such engravings on any topic.

Between May 1781 and June 1787 he had drawn, and aquatinted in grey, a dozen large plates (about 330 x 480/360 x 510mm) of the London scene, a series in all but name.

MALTON'S PICTURESQUE TOUR 1792 - TEXT Series 72 as catalogued in "London Illustrated 1605-1851" by Bernard Adams

Cockspur Street from Malton's ambitious series of aquatints and engravings "A Picturesque Tour Through London," issued between 1792-1801

T. Malton delint. & fecit. Publish'd (date) and Sold by T. Malton, No. 8, Carlisle Street, Soho. f Plate 20, page 32 Cockspur Street. Jan 18th 1797. 215 x 305mm.

by Thomas MALTON, (1748-1804) London: Published by T. Malton, September 2nd 1799. Hand-coloured aquatint. Image size (including text): 10 1/8 x 12 1/8 inches. Sheet size: 11 1/2 x 14 5/8 inches.from Malton's ambitious series of aquatints and engravings "A Picturesque Tour Through London," issued between 1792-1801. The son of the architectural draughtsman Thomas Malton, Thomas Malton the younger was an early exponent of the art of aquatint, which he used to make multiple copies of the topographical views for which he was famous. He was chiefly known for his stunning views of London, which were prized for their architectural accuracy and regarded as valuable topographical records. Like his brother James, Malton worked as a draughtsman in the office of the celebrated Irish architect James Gandon in London. He regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy, beginning in 1773, and was awarded a prestigious pecuniary prize by the Society of Arts in 1774. From 1783 to 1789, he taught an evening drawing class from his home in London's Conduit Street, where he instructed a young Thomas Girtin and J. M. W. Turner, the latter of whom he greatly influenced. £85 water mark to the sky would remove also on SW