Oil painting, Westminster Bridge from the North, artist unknown, British school, mid-18th century

Painting depicting the Thames and Westminster bridge. In the right distance is Parliament and Westminster Hall and Abbey leading to St John's, Smith Square, with its four towers; in the left distance is Lambeth Palace. In the foreground, in front of the bridge, are a number of boats. A carriage and figures are crossing the bridge.

Bequeathed by Mrs Maud Horne

Bequeathed by Mrs Maud Horne. The Departmental file for this painting notes that it was ‘Accepted for the purpose of lending to official buildings’.

This painting depicts Old Westminster Bridge - built between 1739-47 and officially opened in 1750 - with, on the right, Westminster Hall and Abbey leading to St John’s, Smith Square, in the distance, and, on the left, Lambeth Palace. The donor, Mrs Maud Horne, believed the painting to be by Samuel Scott (1702-72), but the museum catalogued it on its acquisition as ‘English School. ? 18th cent.’ It is similar to a View of Westminster Bridge, dated 1740, by Joseph Nicholls (active 1726-55), in the University of Greenwich collection; the date of 1740 is problematic as the bridge was officially opened ten years later in 1750. The subject of the new Westminster bridge was a popular one, and the V&A painting is one of many such versions of this scene, most by unknown artists, who have added their own variations, as has the artist of the V&A work, in terms of the shipping and figures depicted.

In all likelihood, in spite of the ‘1740’ dating of Nicholls’ view, View of Westminster Bridge derives from Westminster Bridge from the North with the Lord Mayor’s Procession on the Thames, 29 October 1746, (Accession Number B1976.7.94, Yale Center for British Art), dated 1747, by Giovanni Antonio Canaletto (1697-1768). The viewpoint of Canaletto’s painting - high above the water, showing both banks, and therefore impossible to see in reality - was an archaic way of depicting a bridge and draws upon the tradition in 17th-century Dutch painting of showing a bridge end-to-end (see for example View of Old London Bridge from the West, also in the V&A collection, by Claude de Jongh (c.1600-63), dated 1650, Museum Number 7129-1860). Italian artists, including Canaletto, injected a note of renewed vigour into the painting of London views when they arrived in the British capital in the mid-18th century and such paintings were in considerable demand, and probably led to the market for views by lesser artists.

It is worth noting that a curator in the 1950s wrote on the Departmental file, ‘could it be by Old Paul? Cf. attached colour reproduction of a work said to be by him’. The said colour reproduction depicts Westminster from Lambeth which is said to be by John Paul Sen.r. It has a reference to ‘Walpole Soc IX, p.53’ (Finberg, Hilda F., 'Canaletto in England', The Walpole Society, Vol.IX, Oxford, 1920-21, p.53) which discusses the artist ‘R.Paul’. Finberg notes that ‘R.Paul’ was clearly producing fakes and was known to dealers as an obscure 19th-century painter. His works masquerade under the name of Canaletto or of Samuel Scott which are sometimes catalogued as by ‘J.Paul’ – probably, notes Finberg, to be identified with ‘R.Paul’.

This painting was formerly attributed to Samuel Scott (ca.1702-1772).

View of Westminster Bridge depicts Old Westminster Bridge, built between 1739-47 and officially opened in 1750, and dates to the mid-18th century. It is similar to a View of Westminster Bridge, by Joseph Nicholls (active 1726-55), in the University of Greenwich collection. However, it probably derives from Westminster Bridge from the North with the Lord Mayor’s Procession on the Thames, 29 October 1746, dated 1747, by Giovanni Antonio Canaletto (1697-1768), in the Yale Center for British Art. The V&A painting adopts a similar view point to Canaletto’s work high above the water, showing both banks, and therefore impossible to see in reality - an archaic way of depicting a bridge, drawing upon the tradition in 17th-century Dutch painting of showing a bridge end-to-end. Italian artists, including Canaletto, injected a note of renewed vigour into the painting of London views when they arrived in the British capital in the mid-18th century and such paintings were in considerable demand, and probably led to the market for views by lesser artists. The V&A painting is an example of this type.

P.12-1952