Daniel Lerpinière, British c.1745-1785- A south view of the cities...

Daniel Lerpinière,
British c.1745-1785-

A south view of the cities of London and Westminster, taken from Denmark Hall near Camberwell, after George Robertson;

hand-coloured copper plate engraving, published by John Boydell, London, 1st May 1779, 46.5 x 58 cm.

Provenance:
with Frank T. Sabin, London.
with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., London.
Private Collection, UK.

Note:
Boydell was the leading printmaker of his day and Lerpinière was his favourite engraver. The prominent landscape artist George Robertson (1747-1788) achieved fame when he accompanied William Beckford to Jamaica. His original oil of this scene sold through Christie's, London, 26 November 1999, lot 17. In the foreground, a stagecoach thunders down the hill in a cloud of dust towards a wooded landscape with isolated country houses and market gardens, stretching to the outskirts of London proper in the middle distance, which at that date consisted of Bermondsey and Southwark. The artist has skillfully distinguished those areas south of the Thames, which are shown under cloud, from the remainder of the city which is in sunlight. Starting from the left you can see Westminster Abbey and the Great Hall, with Brixton windmill in the middle foreground, stretching across to St Paul's and the City churches, and as far as the Tower of London in the east.