Daniel Havell after H. Haseler

A View of London from near the Adelphi

24 x 17 inches

A hand coloured aquatint by the famous topographical engraver, Daniel Havell, after the painting by H. Haseler and published in London circa 1820.

This magnificent panoramic view of London shows St. Paul's Cathedral and the full sweep of the city skyline but, more importantly, it illustrates the newly constructed Waterloo Bridge in the foreground. This bridge was opened by the Prince Regent on the second anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 1817. Canova described it as "the noblest bridge in the world worth a visit from the remotest corners of the earth". It was a granite bridge with nine elliptical arches and pairs of Doric columns at the piers. Originally called the Strand Bridge it was renamed Waterloo Bridge by an Act of Parliament in 1816. Daniel Havell was one of London’s leading aquatint engravers working during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He worked in response to the phenomenal demand for large, beautifully executed topographical prints that arose during the reign of George III. London had emerged from the rapid expansion of the mid eighteenth century as the most affluent and successful city in Europe and a plethora of new buildings arose as witness to this prosperity. Artists and engravers were quick to capitalise on the demand for images of this vibrant new phase in London’s development and none captured the mood better than the finely engraved aquatints of Daniel Havell.

£1850