The Opening of the New London Bridge

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Artist: David Cox (British, 1783–1859)
Medium: Watercolor and graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Size: Sheet: 9 1/2 x 14 3/4 inches (24.1 x 37.5 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Cox’s biographer Nathaniel Neal Solly gives the following account of Cox’s activity in recording the opening of the new London Bridge:On the 1st of August, 1831, the New London Bridge, which had taken seven years to build, was opened with great ceremony by King William iv and Queen Adelaide. Cox, who had formerly painted the embarkation of George iv at Greenwich for Scotland, went down to a coal wharf near St. Saviour’s Church, Bankside, to sketch the preparations, &c., in watercolours. The gentleman who narrated this to me was a little boy at the time.

He watched the artist all day at his work on the wharf, which was occupied by the boy’s father. He had an early taste for art, and when the drawing (a very beautiful one) was finished, he asked for it for his own. “Oh, my lad,” replied Cox, “do you know it is worth five pounds?” This drawing, I am informed, has since been sold for a hundred pounds.Solly’s source would appear to be Robert W. Thrupp, who, in two letters once attached to the backboard of the Yale watercolor, assured its owner, J. W. Shaw, that as a boy he had seen Cox making the drawing from his father’s wharf on the day of the opening.

Text: Yale Center for British Art.