JAMES HEDDERLY (1814-1885)

JAMES HEDDERLY (1814-1885)
a collection of seven photographs of Chelsea before the building of the Embankment in 1871-3:
Old Battersea Bridge (as depicted by Whistler);
Chelsea Old Church;
Cheyne Walk near Chelsea Physic Garden;
Monument to Sir Hans Sloane at Chelsea Old Church;
Statue of Sir Hans Sloane by John Michael Rysbrack in Chelsea Physic Garden;
Houses on Cheyne Walk at the junction of Beaufort Street and Battersea Bridge;
Cheyne Walk before the building of the Embankment
largest 20.5 x 42cm, unframed,
together with a further photograph by W Brown of the Inspection of the Main Drainage Works at Barking, July 14th 1862 (8)

This collection by the Chelsea born artist James Hedderly gives a fascinating insight to what Chelsea was like in the 1870s, before the building of the embankment which changed the landscape of London so fundamentally. Hedderly's work focused on the Chelsea area and he did much to document the construction of the embankment. It was a time when Chelsea was established as a major artistic centre and community in London based around places like Cheyne Walk, which in 1870 boasted Dante Gabriel Rossetti (no.16) and James Abbott McNeill Whistler (no.96) as residents.

Hedderly's work can be seen in the Kensington and Chelsea Archives and National Monuments Record. Photographs are also published in John Bignall, 'Chelsea seen from 1860 to 1980', London Studio B, 1978.
Sold for £900