Susanna Drury (Irish c.1698-c.1770)

Susanna Drury (Irish c.1698-c.1770)
A view of London from Greenwich, with the windmills of the Isle of Dogs and St Paul's Cathedral in the distance
Signed and dated Sus. Drury pin/1733 (lower right)
Gouache
23.4 x 33.7cm; 9 x 13in

Provenance:
Bennett's Auction Rooms, Dublin, 2 February 1905;
With Frank Sabin, 1954;
Aldridge Bros, Worthing, where purchased by the present private collectors, early 1970s;

Literature:
Anne Crookshank, Irish Watercolours and Drawings: Works on Paper c.1600-1914 (Abrams, 1995), p.32

The present work is a remarkable early view of London as seen from Greenwich, probably from One Tree Hill. Below the viewer, just beyond the trees, is St Alfege Church. To the left is Deptford, whilst the windmills that lined the shore of the Isle of Dogs can be seen in the middleground. In the distance St Paul's Cathedral rises above the City of London.

Susanna Drury was from a Dublin family of Anglo-Irish ancestry. Although little is known of her life, she was influential in the development of Irish landscape painting. Her watercolours of the Giant's Causeway were widely disseminated through engravings and helped bring international attention to the site. Works by Drury are extremely rare, and this is her only known depiction of London.