Claude de Jongh, ca. 1600–1663, Dutch, active in Britain (1615, 1625, 1627, 1628)
Title:
View of London Bridge
Date:
1632
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on panel
Dimensions:
19 1/4 x 43 inches (48.9 x 109.2 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2005.4
Gallery Label:
Claude de Jongh’s view shows Old London Bridge, begun in the twelfth century and now remembered in the nursery rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down.” Over the course of centuries it became crowded with commercial and residential buildings, and until 1729 it was the only crossing over the river Thames. The view is from the west looking toward the Thames Estuary. The faint silhouette of the Tower of London can just be seen on the left of the composition. On the south side of the river was Southwark, home to the Rose, the Swan, and the Globe theaters, where the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries were performed. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
