Panoramic View of Greenwich, the Thames, and London, from the East (One Tree Hill)
Robert Griffier
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1729 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
902 x 1842 mm (35 ½ x 72 ½ in)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436075
Caption
From the top of the hill in Greenwich Park, a clear prospect of one of the River Thames’ largest meanders emerges. The area of land it winds its way around is known as the Isle of Dogs; here, it appears as a barren marshy wilderness. By the early nineteenth century, this site had been developed into the West India Docks - a critical hub for Britain’s global shipping trade. Today, this part of London remains an important centre for international business, playing home to many skyscrapers, perhaps most famously One Canada Square at Canary Wharf with its distinctive pyramid-shaped roof. On the south side of the river Sir Christopher Wren’s Greenwich Hospital appears half-built, with only one domed roof completed. Behind it, the white exterior of Inigo Jones’ ‘Queen’s House’ can be seen through the trees. To the far left, in an elevated position, stands the Royal Observatory.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Panoramic View of Greenwich, the Thames, and London, from the east (One Tree Hill). by Robert Griffier (London 1688 – London 1750), signed and dated, bottom, mid left: R GRIFFIER F / 1729.
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1984)
Makers and roles
Robert Griffier, artist