A Panoramic View of London, from the Tower of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster

A Panoramic View of London, from the Tower of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster is a painting made in 1815 by Pierre Prévost, acquired by the Museum of London in July 2018. It is particularly significant for its depiction of the pre-1834 Palace of Westminster.

Creation


The work uses watercolour and bodycolour over pencil, on paper, which has been mounted on canvass. It is 605 cm long. It is a sketch for a larger work, now lost, which was displayed as a visitor attraction in Paris. That work was 30 m long (or in diameter; sources vary ).

Depictions


Prévost painted the view from the tower of St. Margaret's, including (from left to right):


 * Westminster Abbey (part)
 * Guildhall
 * Whitehall
 * St Martin-in-the-Fields
 * St James's Park
 * Banqueting House
 * River Thames
 * Waterloo Bridge (under construction)
 * St Paul's Cathedral
 * Westminster Bridge
 * Palace of Westminster
 * Westminster Abbey

This was before the 1834 fire which destroyed much of the Palace of Westminster; and the Palace's subsequent rebuilding.

Provenance
On 4 July 2018, the painting was auctioned at Sotheby's in London, after being re-found in the south of France. It was purchased for £250,000 by the Museum of London, with partial funding by the Art Fund.