Theodore Fielding after James Pollard. The Elephant and Castle on the Brighton Road. 39 x 31 inches. This magnificent scene brings to life all the hustle and bustle of the Elephant and Castle road junction south of the River Thames. After the construction of Blackfriar's Bridge in the mid C18th the junction became increasingly and notoriously congested. This print shows the tavern which was established in 1760 and by 1826 had become one of the most popular coaching stops south of the city. James Pollard (1797-1867) was born in Islington, north London, the son of the artist and engraver, Robert Pollard. Like his father before him, he spent his working life in London painting and engraving sporting subjects. He learnt his trade from his father and between them they have become synonymous with the sporting art that came to be so popular from the late Georgian to the mid Victorian period. Few homes would be complete without a coaching scene or an equestrian study by one of the Pollards and they have remained fashionable to this day. The family business became known as R. Pollard and Sons in 1819 and it was during the subsequent ten years that James Pollard produced the majority of his engraved work.