Old London Bridge
Samuel Scott (London 1703 – Bath 1772)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1753
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
985 x 1865 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Felbrigg, Norfolk
NT 1401186
Caption
Scott painted this scene no less than eleven times. The first time was in 1747, the year after the Lord Mayor had called a Court of Enquiry to consider the future of the bridge. It was considered a dangerous obstacle to traffic both up, down and across the Thames. The houses on it were pulled down, and a single central arch was built in 1757. The rest of the bridge was not demolished until 1831. An inventory of 1764 at Felbrigg, where this picture hangs, records that this version was painted in 1753. This was the same year in which William II Windham requested frames for it and its pendant, ‘The Tower of London.’
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Old London Bridge, by Samuel Scott (London 1703 – Bath 1772). 1753. The view is looking upstream to a bridge with houses on it, Tower of St Magnus in the right distance and the Monument beyond, and two boats in the foreground, left is a wharf with men drawing in nets.
Provenance
Bequeathed with the hall and contents by Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer (1906 – 1969) Part of the Windham Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1969 by Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer (1906-1969)
Credit line
Felbrigg Hall, The Windham Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Samuel Scott (London 1703 – Bath 1772), artist