View of London Bridge with a hay barge in the foreground

Old London Bridge, shorn of its houses, is depicted in the distance. On the City side of the river are the spires of various City churches, the Monument, and the Tower, and on the south side the towers of St. Olave Tooley Street and St. Saviour's. On the river a gaff-rigged barge discharges its hay into a punt and in the foreground a peterboat reveals its wet well which was used to keep caught fish alive.

The landcape and marine painter, John Thomas Serres, was the elder son of the painter Dominic Serres (1722-1793), from whom he probably received his training. Although he started his career painting landscapes he succeeded his father as 'Marine Painter to the King' in 1793 and also became marine draughtsman to the Admiralty.