View of London from Greenwich Park

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), 10 Alfred Place

This view of London, from the hillside in Greenwich Park, looks across the Thames River to St Paul’s Cathedral in the background. In the left of the foreground, people spend their leisure time strolling along pathways through the park. The strong shadows of the trees and clear sky above indicate that the weather is bright and sunny.

Greenwich Park is the oldest enclosed royal park. The land was inherited by the Duke of Gloucester, brother of Henry V, in 1427. It became the birthplace of Henry VIII as well as his two daughters Mary I and Elizabeth I. As an enthusiast for hunting, Henry VIII first introduced the deer to the park in 1515 and deer are still found there today.

During World War II anti-aircraft guns were concealed in the park’s flower garden and the tops of some trees were removed in order to clear the line of fire. However, the park was restored after the War and many of the trees first planted in the early 1660s still survive today.

Joseph Farington was born in Leigh, Lancashire, son of the vicar of Leigh and rector of Warrington. He was educated in Manchester and studied under Richard Wilson in London from 1763. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1769 and became an Academician in 1785. His strength was in pen, ink and wash drawings of topographical views. He made extensive sketching tours of the UK and settled in the North Country from 1776. Works made there led to the publication ‘Views of the Lakes of Cumberland and Westmorland’ (1785). In 1780 he suffered a breakdown after his wife died. In the next year he moved to London. He died on a visit to his brother in Lancashire, when he fell down steps at Didsbury Church. His personal diaries were published in 1934.
Joseph Constantine Stadler was a prolific German émigré engraver of images after his contemporaries. His engravings are wide-ranging in subject matter and include landscapes, seascapes and portraits, as well as military, sporting and decorative subjects. Stadler was employed by the leading print publisher of the time, John Boydell (1720-1804). On 23 March 1799 Stadler married Ann Elizabeth Sandman at St Anne’s Church, Soho, in London. He was living in Knightsbridge when he died at the age of 73.

Places

England, River Thames, London, Greenwich: Church of St. Alfege, Greenwich Park, Greenwich

Subjects

topography, townscape/cityscape, tree, river, hill, path, park, house, church, cathedral, spire, dome, sailboat, ship

Materials & Techniques

aquatint, colour aquatint

Artist

Joseph Farington (1747 - 1821)
Joseph Constantine Stadler (1755 - 1828)

Title

View of London from Greenwich Park

Date

published 1 June 1796

Medium

Colour aquatint

Dimensions

width: 57.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from John McMaster, April 1949

GAC number

745