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Lot Essay
This is the first of a series of paintings of London from the river Thames, begun by Roberts in 1860. He noted in his Record Book, under 1861, above the entry for this work and three others: 'These are the first four of a Serries (sic) of Pictures of the River Thames which I have agreed to paint for Charles Lucas Esqr of Sisters House, Clapham Common Surrey for Three Thousand Pounds To Be God willing completed in Three Years. Recd for the Same Eight Hundred Guineas'.
The other three pictures painted for Lucas were listed in Roberts's Record Book as 'Somerset House and the Adelphi. From Hungerford' (Record Book no. 230), 'St. Paul's from Waterloo Bridge' (Record Book no. 231, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1862, no. 370), and 'The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey' (Record Book 232). Each was sold for 200 guineas (£210). Another completed in 1861 and listed as the following in the Record Book was 'The New Palace of Westminster from the River' (Record Book 233 and exhibited at the Royal Academy 1862, no. 628, now in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, London, and exhibited Barbican Art Gallery, 1986, no. 40. This is followed in the Record Book by 'Greenwich Hospital', 'not finished until 1863'; Roberts received £525 for each of the latter two.
According to Roberts's biographer, James Ballentine, the idea for the series had been suggested to Roberts some years earlier by J.M.W. Turner who said that he had thought of it too late to carry it out himself. In 1860 Roberts met Sir Charles Barry for the last time and the series was the chief subject of their conversation. Roberts pledged himself to begin without delay. Barry's death shortly after on 12 May affected Roberts very deeply (Ballantine records) and he set to work 'to make the sketches for that magnificent series.' Diary entries quoted by Ballantine (as well as dates on numerous on-the-spot sketches) record his frequent sketching on the Thames during August and September 1860: August 27 'sketched from the Horse Ferry, Westminster'. In a letter written that month he wrote 'still the more I see of my proposed work the more I am convinced that I have fallen on a mine of wealth in good subjects...the work must be done now or never, or the proposed new embankment will completely change the appearance of the river and its picturesque adjuncts.' In 1861, the year of this painting, plans for providing the Thames with a proper embankment gathererd momentum. Following an advertisement in the Times, in total fifty-nine schemes were produced and that of Joseph Bazalgette chosen. It took another ten years before the Victoria Embankment was completed, and another twenty before the stretch of the Thames depicted here lost all its working river connotations to become a garden.
We are grateful to Krystyna Matyjaskiewicz for assistance in the preparation for this catalogue entry.
The other three pictures painted for Lucas were listed in Roberts's Record Book as 'Somerset House and the Adelphi. From Hungerford' (Record Book no. 230), 'St. Paul's from Waterloo Bridge' (Record Book no. 231, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1862, no. 370), and 'The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey' (Record Book 232). Each was sold for 200 guineas (£210). Another completed in 1861 and listed as the following in the Record Book was 'The New Palace of Westminster from the River' (Record Book 233 and exhibited at the Royal Academy 1862, no. 628, now in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, London, and exhibited Barbican Art Gallery, 1986, no. 40. This is followed in the Record Book by 'Greenwich Hospital', 'not finished until 1863'; Roberts received £525 for each of the latter two.
According to Roberts's biographer, James Ballentine, the idea for the series had been suggested to Roberts some years earlier by J.M.W. Turner who said that he had thought of it too late to carry it out himself. In 1860 Roberts met Sir Charles Barry for the last time and the series was the chief subject of their conversation. Roberts pledged himself to begin without delay. Barry's death shortly after on 12 May affected Roberts very deeply (Ballantine records) and he set to work 'to make the sketches for that magnificent series.' Diary entries quoted by Ballantine (as well as dates on numerous on-the-spot sketches) record his frequent sketching on the Thames during August and September 1860: August 27 'sketched from the Horse Ferry, Westminster'. In a letter written that month he wrote 'still the more I see of my proposed work the more I am convinced that I have fallen on a mine of wealth in good subjects...the work must be done now or never, or the proposed new embankment will completely change the appearance of the river and its picturesque adjuncts.' In 1861, the year of this painting, plans for providing the Thames with a proper embankment gathererd momentum. Following an advertisement in the Times, in total fifty-nine schemes were produced and that of Joseph Bazalgette chosen. It took another ten years before the Victoria Embankment was completed, and another twenty before the stretch of the Thames depicted here lost all its working river connotations to become a garden.
We are grateful to Krystyna Matyjaskiewicz for assistance in the preparation for this catalogue entry.