Westminster Bridge

Westminster Bridge

1749
Samuel Scott
Gray wash, graphite and pen and black ink on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, with thin, slightly textured, blue laid paper border, mounted on moderately thick, moderately textured, cream wove paper
Sheet: 14 1/8 x 28 3/8 inches (35.9 x 72.1 cm)Mount: 16 3/4 x 31 1/4 inches (42.5 x 79.4 cm)

Although completed in 1742, before Westminster Bridge could open to the public, one of its piers settled, sinking nearly three feet below the level of the others. In the spring of 1749, the pier and its neighboring arches were dismantled and rebuilt, as shown here. While the bridge and laborers form the focus of the drawing, Scott is equally insistent on the presence of polite spectators, who populate the foreground.

B2009.5.4
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund, in honor of John Baskett