Westminster from Lambeth

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France

This view looks north, along the Thames, from Lambeth Bridge. On the left is the newly completed Palace of Westminster, with Westminster Abbey beyond it. The Victoria Tower, which dominates the view of the palace, was only finished in 1860, just two years before this work was painted. To the right of the painting is the red brick gatehouse of Lambeth Palace, the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Beyond the gatehouse, on the far right, is the church of St Mary-at-Lambeth.

Henry Pether’s paintings typically depict moonlit scenes reflected on water. This work is unusual for showing a scene in daylight, although it does demonstrate the painter’s interest and accuracy in depicting architectural subjects. Pether often produced alternative paintings of the same view. A similar work by the artist, showing the Victoria Tower and the Clock Tower (encasing Big Ben) still topped with the cranes involved in their construction, was sold through Christie’s, London, in 1996. While a second similar Pether work, showing the scene in moonlight, sold through Bonham’s, London, in 2002.

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, Lambeth Palace, Lambeth, Westminster

Subjects

rowing boat, topography, townscape/cityscape, river bank, river, bridge (urban), government building, palace, abbey, chimney, clock tower, tower, barge/canal boat

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Henry Pether

Title

Westminster from Lambeth

Date

1862

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 63.50 cm, width: 114.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the Parker Gallery, October 1955

Inscription

sbr

GAC number

3333