Plate XLVI. 107 OLD LONDON BRIDGE AND NEW LONDON BRIDGE FROM SOUTHWARK.
Watercolour. 26-1/2 by 9-1/4 in.
This painting, in which body colour has been used for the high lights, is of much value as a topographical record. It is signed and dated, and shows that old London Bridge was still being used for traffic as late as the year 1830, when the new bridge was nearly finished. It also gives their relative positions, and the nature of the projecting starlings which had been added to break the rush of water on the piers. At the end of new London Bridge is the church of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, pulled down soon afterwards. The first stone of the new bridge was laid 15 June 1825, and it was publicly opened by William IV and Queen Adelaide 1 August 1831.
George Belton Moore, the painter of it, often exhibited at the Royal Academy, and taught drawing at the Military Academy, Woolwich, and at University College. He also wrote on perspective, and on the "Principles of Colour applied to Decorative Art."
By G. B. Moore, 1830 (1806-1875).
Lent by Sir E. Coates.
108 VIEW OF LONDON FROM HIGH GROUND BEYOND
ST. GEORGE'S FIELDS.
Watercolour. 28 by 19 in.
Since this was painted, all south London, with its immediate neighbourhood, has been so thickly covered with buildings that the artist's exact point of view cannot be made out. The substantial house in the foreground was probably the suburban home of some well-to-do merchant. The nearest church, evidently on the Surrey side of the river (the tower of which appears a short distance to the right of St. Paul's), must be Christchurch, near the west side of the Blackfriars Road. Christchurch parish was created by Act of Parliament in 1671, and covers the same ground as the still existing Manor of Paris Garden. Inscription as follows: Will^m Capon Pinx^t. 1804. Westminster.
By W. Capon (1757-1827).
Lent by Sir E. Coates.
