Houses of Parliament from the Thames by Moonlight

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, 100 Parliament Street

This view of the River Thames is dominated by Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. The artist Henry Pether painted several river views of these structures in his later years. The Government Art Collection also holds a closer view of Westminster Bridge, with part of the Parliament building seen behind, and a painting of Westminster from Lambeth, both by Pether.

Demand for this scene may be partly attributed to the recent completion of these two great London landmarks. Following the almost complete destruction of the historic Palace of Westminster by fire in 1834, the new Houses of Parliament, designed by Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin, were built between 1840 and 1860. A new Westminster Bridge, designed by engineer Thomas Page, was also erected between 1854 and 1862 to replace the former mid-18th-century bridge.

Henry Pether was a painter of townscapes and landscapes. He was one of a family of painters who specialised in moonlit scenes and painted in a similar style. The most famous member of the family was Henry’s father, Abraham Pether (1756–1812). Pether exhibited seven paintings at the Royal Academy between 1828 and 1862. He also showed his work at the Royal Society of British Artists in Suffolk Street (1833-1834 and 1855) and at the British Institution (1865). During his career he moved several times, living at addresses in Southampton, Camden Town and south London, probably to escape his creditors. In 1837, The London Gazette reported that Pether was an inmate of a debtor’s prison and described his profession as ‘Surveyor, Artist, Engineer, and Architect’. Difficulty in making a sufficient income from painting alone may have led him to experiment with other occupations and entrepreneurial projects. In 1839 he and ‘Alfred Singer, of Vauxhall’ were granted a patent for ‘improvements in the preparation and combination of earthenware or porcelain for the purpose of mosaic’. Mr Singer went on to exhibit mosaic tiles at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and a review of the exhibition mentions Pether as one of those responsible for ‘re-introducing this very beautiful kind of decoration’. Pether continued his attempts to supplement his career as an artist with further patents for architectural materials in 1864 and 1867 and a patent for a lamp globe in 1876.

Places

England, River Thames, London, Westminster Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Palace of Westminster, Westminster

Subjects

rowing boat, topography, townscape/cityscape, Gothic Revival, evening, moon, river, bridge (urban), government building, palace, clock tower, tower, barge/canal boat

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Henry Pether

Title

Houses of Parliament from the Thames by Moonlight

Date

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 74.00 cm, width: 110.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Christie's, 15 October 1976

Inscription

Sbr

Provenance

'The Property of a Gentleman'; by whom sold through Christie's, London, 'Fine Victorian Pictures' sale, on 15 October 1976 (Lot 73); from which sale purchased by the Department of the Environment

GAC number

12493