Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
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Collection
<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>
An Arch Old Westminster Bridge
Purchased 1886
adults
animals: mammals
arch
architecture
boat, barge
bridge
bridges and viaducts
dog - non-specific
England
features
industrial and crafts
man
mason
people
places
river
River Thames
society
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
UK countries and regions
UK London
UK natural features
water: inland
waterfront
Westminster, Westminster Bridge
work and occupations
<p>Scott was primarily a painter of marine and river views, especially of the Thames. The latter were inspired by those of Canaletto who, like Scott, was interested in the construction of old Westminster Bridge. Construction began in 1739, but Scott's paintings of it were probably done in 1750 just before it was opened to traffic. This particular oil is one of five versions. Its small size suggests that it is possibly the first Scott painted, worked up from pencil studies made on the spot, to test ideas he had for his much larger and monumental work. Like Canaletto, Scott has included a touch of humour: on top of the balustrade a construction worker is taking a well-earned break.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
An Arch of Old Westminster Bridge
support: 270 × 397 mm
Purchased 1886
<p>Scott was primarily a painter of marine and river  views, especially of the Thames. The latter were  inspired by those of Canaletto who, like Scott,  was interested in the construction of old  Westminster Bridge. Construction began in 1739,  but Scott's <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> of it were probably done in  1750 just before it was opened to traffic. This  particular oil is one of five versions. Its small  size suggests that it is possibly the first Scott  painted, worked up from <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/graphite" title="Glossary definition for 'Graphite'"><span>pencil</span></a> studies made on the  spot, to test ideas he had for his much larger and  monumental work. Like Canaletto, Scott has  included a touch of humour: on top of the  balustrade a construction worker is taking a  well-earned break.</p>
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2004-09-03T00:00:00
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<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-an-arch-of-old-westminster-bridge-n01223" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01223</span></a> <b>An Arch of Westminster Bridge</b> <i>c</i>1750
<br/></p>
<p>Oil on canvas 270×397 (10 1/8×15 3/4)
<br/>Purchased by the National Gallery (Clarke Fund) 1886; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1949
<br/>PROVENANCE Probably the artist's sale, Langford's 4 April 1765 (13, ‘A small view of part of Westminster Bridge’);...; Henry Graves &amp; Co. until 1886, when bt by the National Gallery
<br/>EXHIBITED <i>18th Century Painting</i>, East Kent and Folkestone Art Centre, Folkestone, 1967 (22); <i>Views of the Thames from Greenwich to Windsor by Eighteenth Century Artists working in England</i>, Marble Hill House 1968 (11); <i>Royal Westminster</i>, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, London 1982 (192)
<br/>LITERATURE Kingzett 1982, pp.62–4, version C, p.63 (wrongly given as on panel)</p>
<p>This is the smallest of five versions of this subject, listed under <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/scott-an-arch-of-westminster-bridge-t01193" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T01193</span></a>, <i>q.v.</i> for an account of the construction of the bridge and Scott's interest in it.
<br/>
<br/><span>N01223</span> may be Scott's first version in oils of this subject, which evolved from <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/graphite" title="Glossary definition for 'Graphite'"><span>pencil</span></a> studies made on the spot (see below). Like versions B and C, it fails to depict the underside of the right-hand arch, a failure corrected in versions D and E. Comparison with <span>T01193</span> (version E) shows that in that picture Scott also modified the too-prominent dome on the turret at the extreme left of <span>N01223</span> into a flat (or flatter) shape. In <span>N01223</span> the group of masons about to celebrate the apparently imminent conclusion of their work includes three rather than two figures; one has perched a wicker basket (? for tools) on the ledge of the parapet, a rather intrusive detail which Scott omitted in <span>T01193</span>.</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
adults animals: mammals arch architecture boat, barge bridge bridges and viaducts dog - non-specific England features industrial and crafts man mason people places river River Thames society townscapes / man-made features transport: water UK countries and regions UK London UK natural features waterfront water: inland Westminster, Westminster Bridge work and occupations