John Cleveley the Elder

This work derives from a work by Samuel Scott (1702–1772) in the collection at Tate Britain, London.¹ Scott painted eleven recorded iterations of the subject, which are evidence of the landmark's popularity and people's nostalgia for the way the bridge had appeared in former centuries. The Tate version of the subject was also famously engraved by Peter Charles Canot in 1758.²

The present work was painted in 1766, a couple of years after the houses on the bridge were taken down in 1760. The demolition of the actual structure of the bridge took place between 1831–32, after 622 years.

¹ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/scott-a-view-of-london-bridge-before-the-late-alterations-n00313

² https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1880-1113-1541