Oil Painting, 'The Thames: the Strand Shore and Westminster Bridge', Samuel Scott, mid 18th century

An oil painting showing a view of the river Thames looking west from the Strand shore with several barges in the foreground, the nearest of which contains four figures; the York Buildings Water Tower and figures on the right; Old Westminster Bridge and the tower of Westminster Abbey, just visible, in the distance.

Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce

Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce, 1869.

South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks. The Dyce and Forster Collections. With Engravings and Facsimiles. Published for the Committee of Council on Education by Chapman and Hall, Limited, 193, Piccadilly, London. 1880. Chapter I. Biographical Sketch of Mr. Dyce. pp.1-12, including 'Portrait of Mr. Dyce' illustrated opposite p.1.

Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education, South Kensington Museum.A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings... Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London, 1874. A 'Note' on page v comments, 'This catalogue refers to the Art portion of the Collection bequeathed to the South Kensington Museum by the Reverend Alexander Dyce, the well-known Shakespearian scholar, who died May 15, 1869'. The Catalogue. Paintings, Miniatures, &c. by Samuel Redgrave notes of the 'Oil Paintings', 'The strength of Mr. Dyce's valuable bequest to Department of Science and Art does not lie in [this] portion ... which is in its nature of a very miscellaneous character. The collection was made apparently as objects offered themselves, and without any special design.' Dyce's main interest was in literary subjects, and this is reflected in many of the paintings he bequeathed to the V&A.

This is one of several versions which Scott painted from this viewpoint of the river Thames with the York Buildings Water Tower and Old Westminster Bridge.

Old Westminster Bridge (so-called because it was replaced by the present bridge, 1854-62) was built between 1739 and 1747 although it was not finally opened until 1750 owing to the need for urgent repairs. Until its construction, London was served by London Bridge and Putney Bridge to the west which soon became inadequate for the capital’s needs. As Richard Kingzett has noted in his catalogue of Scott’s works, given that Westminster Bridge was the most exciting civic engineering project of the period, ‘Scott’s obsessive interest in it as a subject is easy to understand’, (Richard Kingzett, ‘A Catalogue of the Works of Samuel Scott’, Walpole Society, vol.48, p. 54). Scott drew and painted the bridge throughout its construction and the fact that it is shown in Dyce 20 as completed, suggests that this picture may have been painted after 1750.

The York Buildings Water Tower formed part of the York Buildings Waterworks, a company founded in 1675 on the site of York House at the river end of Villiers Street. At the company’s height in the late 17th century, it was said to supply 2,500 homes in Westminster with water and was the first company to use steam power with, ‘a machine for raising water by fire’ (Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (eds) The London Encyclopaedia, 1993, p.1002). A Swiss visitor noted, ‘At the summit of (the) tower, which is octagonal, there is a small lead cistern or bath which received the water the pumps send up, and from thence it flows into the great reservoir or pond of Marylebone’ (Weinreb and Hibbert, p.1002-1003). Kingzett observes that a similar painting by Scott (see below) showing the two Newcomen engine chimneys behind the Water Tower (as in Dyce 20) must have been painted before 1755 as smoke appears from them. The engine proved unsatisfactory and horses were used to pump the water from 1755 onwards (Kingzett, p.55) which dispelled the omission of smoke.

If we accept the completion of Old Westminster Bridge and the Newcomen engine chimneys as establishing a beginning and end date for Dyce 20, it is possible to date it between 1750-55. However, as Scott was known to work up earlier drawings into oils at a later date, (see Kingzett, p.3; Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, The Age of Hogarth: British Painters born 1675-1709, Tate Gallery Collections, 11, London, 1988, p.184) it is possible that Scott might have based Dyce 20 on studies made between 1750-55, working these into an oil painting when the need arose.

Richard Kingzett catalogues three further versions of this view by Scott, (Kingzett, pp.54-55) which he refers to as versions A, B and C. Version A (Christies, 21/11/1975, Lot 42) and version B (Private Collection) depict a truncated Westminster Bridge and he dates these c.1742/43; version C (Private Collection) depicts a fully completed Bridge and in his opinion was probably commissioned by Andrew Jelfe, the contractor for the stonework of the Bridge, to celebrate its completion in 1750. Kingzett does not mention the Tate’s version of this scene, A View of the Thames with the York Buildings Water Tower (N01328) attributed to a near contemporary of Scott’s, nor the V&A’s version. Comparing Dyce 20 with versions A, B and C and Tate N01328, it is noticeable that it is an altogether much looser evocation of the Strand section of the Thames shore in contrast to the crisp and sharply delineated lines of the houses and Water Tower in these versions. However, Kingzett has noted Scott’s absorption of elements of Dutch painters of townscape, specifically van der Heyden (Kingzett, p.2). Whilst Dyce 20 is not immediately redolent of van der Heyden’s townscapes, its softer brushwork and tonality does have a stylistic affinity with his more delicate landscapes.

The subject of the York Water Tower was popular with artists and patrons alike. Canaletto also made a drawing and painted two versions of the Thames from almost the same viewpoint: The Thames at Westminster, London (National Trust 1420346, Penrhyn Castle); London, a view of the Thames, looking towards Westminster from near the York Water Gate (Dukes of Grafton collection, before 1882).

A similar view of the Tower painted by Canaletto further upstream to the west, The Thames from Somerset House, is in the Royal Collection (RCIN 400506) and was executed as a pendant to a view in the opposite direction, London: The Thames from Somerset House Terrace towards the City (RCIN 400504). It has been said that Canaletto’s arrival in London in 1746 had a considerable impact on Scott and his subsequent adoption of London views as subject matter, so much so, that Scott became known as, ‘the English Canaletto’. Whilst Kingzett accedes that the Venetian’s arrival may have given fresh impetus to the demand for London views and encouraged Scott to paint these, he raises the possibility that Canaletto based one of his Thames views on Scott’s version A or from a drawing Scott made of the same subject. Robertson is also of the view that the English debt to Canaletto has been exaggerated and claims that two of his drawings are derived from a work by Scott (Bruce Robertson, The Art of Paul Sandby, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, 1985, p.17-18). It is notable that when commissioning another view of the same Water Tower, Sir Samuel Pennant, Lord Mayor of London, chose Scott over Canaletto.

This scene of the river Thames with Westminster Bridge and the York Buildings Water Tower is one of a series of versions which Scott painted from this viewpoint. Scott worked on a restricted number of inner London locations, painting numerous examples of each one whilst varying their salient features. Other distinguished artists, including Canaletto, Joli and Griffier, painted similar views of Westminster Bridge and Dyce 20 can be seen to form part of this group of works.

DYCE.20