Watercolour. 26½ by 9¼ 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._