Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
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after <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/samuel-scott-480" aria-label="More by Samuel Scott" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Samuel Scott</a>
A Thames with York Buildings Water Tower
Purchased 1891
abbey
adults
architecture
Baroque
boat, rowing
boat, sailing
bridge
bridges and viaducts
England
figure
house
industrial
people
periods and styles
places
religious
residential
river
River Thames
society
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
UK countries and regions
UK London
UK natural features
water tower
water: inland
waterfront
Westminster, Westminster Abbey
Westminster, Westminster Bridge
Westminster, York House Watergate
painting oil paint canvas
A View of the Thames with the York Buildings Water Tower
support: 603 × 1095 mm
Purchased 1891
<div class="text">
<p>This view of the north bank of the Thames shows Westminster Abbey in the centre, the top of the Houses of Parliament to its left and the Banqueting House in Whitehall to its right. The large pyramid shaped structure is the water tower of the York Buildings water company. It supplied water from the Thames to houses on The Strand. On the right people descend some steps towards a boat. Influenced by Canaletto, Samuel Scott presents an idealised view of the bustling activity of the Thames, of industry and leisure.</p>
</div>

Online caption
2023-11-29T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/scott-a-view-of-the-thames-with-the-york-buildings-water-tower-n01328" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01328</span></a> <b>A View of the Thames with the York Buildings Water Tower</b>
?<i>c.</i>1760–70
<br/></p>
<p>Oil on canvas 603×1105 (23 3/4×43 1/8)
<br/>Purchased by the National Gallery out of the Wheeler Fund 1891; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1891
<br/>PROVENANCE ...; Colnaghi, from whom bt by the National Gallery 1891 (as by Samuel Scott)
<br/></p>
<p>This is a copy, by a competent but probably unidentifiable near-contemporary, of a subject by Samuel Scott of which Kingzett 1982 (pp.54–5) catalogues three versions. The copyist probably worked from version C, which shows the final arch of the bridge fully built and is likely to have been commissioned to celebrate its completion in 1750. As Kingzett notes, Canaletto made a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> and two <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> from almost the same viewpoint, and may have been working from Scott's first study for his picture, or more probably from Scott's first version of it, painted <i>c.</i>1742–3.
<br/>
<br/>The subject was evidently a popular one. Other copies by unknown hands have passed through the art market; the copyists usually follow Scott's architectural details, but provide their own variations, as the artist of <span>N01328</span> does, on the shipping and figures.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, <i>The Age of Hogarth: British Painters Born 1675-1709</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, II, London 1988
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abbey adults architecture Baroque boat, rowing boat, sailing bridge bridges and viaducts England figure house industrial people periods and styles places religious residential river River Thames society townscapes / man-made features transport: water UK countries and regions UK London UK natural features waterfront water: inland water tower Westminster, Westminster Abbey Westminster, Westminster Bridge Westminster, York House Watergate