The panoramic image shows a bird's eye view – perhaps made with the use of a
hot-air balloon – looking west from a position above the middle of the
River Thames, approximately at the current location of
Tower Bridge, with the view spanning
Southwark to the left and the
City of London to the right. Ships are depicted on the river in the
Pool of London, downstream of
London Bridge, with scenes from everyday city life, such as a building on fire in
Bermondsey to the left, a funeral at
Southwark St John Horsleydown, traffic crossing the bridges over the river, the pagoda at
Kew Gardens,
Westminster Abbey, the dome of
St Paul's Cathedral and the spires of other city churches,
shot towers and
windmills, the
Tower of London where a cannon is being fired, and a kite being flown at
Tower Hill. One ship in the third panel is a
hulk, with two masts removed, used to receiving men
press-ganged by the
Royal Navy.
Windsor Castle can be seen in the distance. The work comprises four separate
watercolour and pencil panels made by three different artists: one for the ships, a second for the city scenes, and a third for church spires in the distance. The combined image measures by . It may have been a study for a larger, uncompleted
panoramic painting, to be displayed on a curved wall, but the watercolour may have been exhibited in London in 1809 with other panoramas of European cities. The panorama was probably taken to the US in 1839 by
Robert Havell, Jr., whose father published a similar "Aeronautical View of London" in 1831. The original watercolour was rediscovered in an attic in
Rhinebeck, New York in 1940, and sold at
Sotheby's on 8 June 1998 for £199,500. It was purchased by the Museum of London, partially funded by an
Art Fund grant of £40,000, and also funding from the
Heritage Lottery Fund and the
Victoria and Albert Museum. A modern version, with 20th-century buildings added, is displayed in the
Rolls Building which houses part of the
Royal Courts of Justice on
Fetter Lane. ==References==