Coloured cartoon by the English cartoonist and illustrator William Heath Robinson (1872-1944), entitled 'Early railway pioneers prospecting for a site


Coloured cartoon by the English cartoonist and illustrator William Heath Robinson (1872-1944), entitled 'Early railway pioneers prospecting for a site for a terminal by the upper reaches of the Paddington Canal'. Robinson was best known for his comical drawings of ridiculously complicated machines designed to achieved simple objectives. This legacy is responsible for the phrase 'Heath Robinson', which entered popular language during the First World War (1914-1918) and is commonly used to describe any unnecessarily complex or implausible contraption. From 'Railway Ribaldry' by Heath Robinson (1935).


Size: 3517px × 4968px
Photo credit: © ADAM HART-DAVIS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, ., 1800s, 1900s, 19th, 20th, artwork, background, britain, british, cartoon, century, colored, coloured, comedy, comical, complex, complicated, contraption, device, engineering, england, english, equipment, europe, european, false-colored, false-coloured, gadget, heath, illustration, invention, inventions, london, machine, pioneer, pioneering, rail, railroad, railway, ribaldry, robinson, train, transport, transportation, travel, water, waterway, white, william