Old Putney bridge looking towards Fulham, showing the gothic villa, Brewhouse Lane, the gardens at the west end of The Cedars, the Toll House, Willow Bank and All Saints' Church, London

The present watercolour has been tentatively dated to circa 1860. Before the building of the balustrade and the riverside terrace in 1859, the foreshore on the Putney bank was grassland that sloped down to the river. The watercolour cannot have been executed later than 1870 for in that year a barge destroyed the central three spans of Putney bridge which was then demolished and replaced in 1886 (see G. Phillips, Thames Crossings, London, 1981, for an account of the destruction of the bridge). The gardens in the foreground of the watercolour would have been at the western end of 'The Cedars', a terrace of grand houses that was built in 1859 and was replaced by the villas of Deodar Road in the 1890s. The watercolour shows the Gothic Villa in the trees to the far left of the composition and to the right of the house is the position of Brewhouse Lane.

We are grateful to Richard Shaw, local historian for the Wandsworth and Fulham area, for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.