Old Masters, British & European Paintings - 8th September 2020
Lot 583
John Paul (c.1830-c.1890) A view of the Thames with Old London Bridge Oil on canvas 76.1 x 127cm;...
Estimate £8,000 - £12,000
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Description
John Paul (c.1830-c.1890)
A view of the Thames with Old London Bridge
Oil on canvas
76.1 x 127cm; 30 x 50
The present work shows Old London Bridge from the east as it appeared in the mid 18th Century. At the southern end is the Great Stone Gateway, Nonesuch House house in the middle, and at the northern end a block of ten houses that George Dance designed in 1745. At one point the longest habitable bridge ever built, it comprised nearly 140 houses and shops, rising up through four stories. The houses were eventually removed in the 1760s, but even then the bridge was too narrow for the 90,000 people a day who used it, and it was eventually replaced in 1832.