Title

'The Great Fire of London, 1666', (c1666). Artist: Unknown

Caption

'The Great Fire of London, 1666', (c1666). Scene depicting the fire as it would have appeared between eight and nine o'clock on the evening of Tuesday 4th September from a boat in the vicinity of Tower Wharf. In the centre St Paul's Cathedral is engulfed in flames. On the left the full moon rises over London Bridge, with the Tower of London on the right. In the foreground huddle the frightened and homeless people of London. Over 13,000 houses were destroyed, but there were only a handful of deaths. 87 churches were burned along with St Paul's. The wharf in front of the Tower did not in fact exist and may be attributed to artistic licence, but the general mood and details such as the sparks rising in the night sky suggest the artist was an eye-witness.
Museum of London

Date

1666

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images/Museum of London

Reference

HRM19A82_361

Model release

No

License type

Rights managed

Available size

50,0Mb (2,9Mb) / 18,3in x 10,6in / 5477 x 3189 (300dpi)

Keywords

transport transportation exterior skyline river building buildings England River Thames Thames people black event landmark religious orange boat boats night dark religion science law crime bridge burning fire flame flames solar system astronomy geography cathedral church castle color colour moon dramatic full moon lunar Christianity drama fortification darkness prison disaster st pauls cathedral century city of london catastrophe concept outside London Bridge Tower of London time of day homeless homelessness 17th century penitentiary water transport St Paul's Cathedral seventeenth century St. Paul's Cathedral Museum of London artistic school Dutch School geographical feature Great Fire of London 1666 TGN landscape oil Unknown oil landscape