Building the Stationary Engine House, Camden Town April 26th 1837

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

John Cooke Bourne is best known for producing two series of lithographs on railway construction. The first was published as ‘Drawings of the London and Birmingham Railway’ in 1839 and the second, ‘The History and Description of the Great Western Railway’, was published in 1846. The success of these works caused Bourne to be known as the ‘Piranesi of the Railway Age’. He also illustrated ‘Views in Kairo’ (1840) and ‘The History of Steam Navigation’ (1846) and made drawings of the road bridge spanning the Dnieper River in Kiev, Ukraine, for the engineer Charles Vignoles. From 1866 to 1877 he was unsuccessful three times in standing for election to the New Watercolour Society. He died in Brentford at the age of 81.

Places

England, London, Camden (borough), Camden Town

Subjects

engine house, railway, construction worker, builder, townscape/cityscape, Victorian Genre, man

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, colour lithograph

Artist

John Cooke Bourne (1814 - 1896)

Title

Building the Stationary Engine House, Camden Town April 26th 1837

Date

published 1839

Medium

Colour lithograph

Acquisition

Purchased from Sotheby's, 13 June 1957

Provenance

Sold through Sotheby's, London, ‘Old Master and Modern Engravings and Etchings’ sale, on 13 June 1957 (Lot 353; with GAC 3857-3859); from which sale purchased by the Ministry of Works

GAC number

3860