INGRAM, Herbert
The Illustrated London News Panorama of London and the River Thames
London: Illustrated London News, 1845. Wood engraving on laid paper. Sheet size: 12 x 94 1/2 inches.
An incredible mid-Victorian panorama of London from above the south bank of the Thames, published as a supplement to The Illustrated London News in January 1845 and showing the capital from Vauxhall to Greenwich.
Viewed from an elevated position above the south bank, the panorama extends from Vauxhall and Westminster in the west to Greenwich in the east. The sinuous course of the Thames provides the organising structure of the composition, drawing the eye past the new Houses of Parliament, the bridges and riverside wharves of central London, and the Greenwich Hospital. Buildings on both banks are shown in considerable detail, while the river is animated by paddle steamers, barges, and ocean-going shipping. The panorama captures London during a period of extensive rebuilding and rapid industrial expansion. Further east are the viaduct of the London and Greenwich Railway, opened in 1836 as the capital's first suburban railway, and the Dreadnought, then serving as a hospital ship between Deptford and Greenwich. The dense river traffic, smoking chimneys, warehouses, docks, public buildings, and expanding suburbs together present the Thames as the principal artery of the Victorian metropolis. The image was first issued as a supplement to the 11 January 1845 number of The Illustrated London News. It was published in two parts, each printed from three woodblocks, which could be joined to form a panorama nearly eight feet long. Founded by Herbert Ingram in 1842, The Illustrated London News established a new model of pictorial journalism in which images formed an essential part of the reporting and interpretation of current events. The scale and technical complexity of this panorama extended that editorial ambition to the capital itself. Rather than concentrating upon a single monument or district, it offered readers a synoptic portrait of London as a river city, commercial port, seat of government, and centre of an expanding empire.
Geographicus listing for the present example; Royal Museums Greenwich, object PAI7795; Internet Archive copy of Panorama of the River Thames, 1845; British Online Archives overview of The Illustrated London News.
Item #43045
Price: $450.00