This extended view of the north bank of the river Thames from St Bride’s to St Paul’s, with Blackfriars Bridge prominent to the right, has been linked to Girtin’s Eidometropolis, no doubt because the view from the south broadly coincides with the drawing that the artist made for section seven of his London panorama (TG1859). More particularly, the work has been associated with the panorama because of the inscription, ‘For a Scene’, and because it includes a grid, suggesting that it was made to be enlarged. Girtin is known to have supplied designs for theatrical sets from his Paris sketches, including La Rue Saint-Denis (TG1891), and, since the low viewpoint alone means that it could not have been produced in relation to a 360-degree panorama, it is much more likely that the ‘Scene’ was a stage set. Whether the drawing is by Girtin is another question, however. The rather mechanical treatment of the architectural features of the buildings bears some resemblance to The Thames, with St Paul’s and Blackfriars Bridge (TG1386) and, indeed, to passages in the outline drawings made for the Eidometropolis (such as TG1856). The point is that the latter, in particular, were strictly utilitarian in character, being produced for others to copy onto a monumental canvas, and any aesthetic embellishments were quite superfluous. That said, I still think that the quality of the draughtsmanship is arguably not sufficiently high to attribute the view with any confidence to Girtin, as it lacks any signs of his characteristic variety of touch, and the relationship between the lines and the washes of colour is far from certain. From the end of the 1790s, many panoramic views were painted for theatrical productions, commissioned by impresarios who wished to take advantage of the success of the innovative and fashionable public spectacle. The drawing was therefore likely to have been produced by one of the numerous but poorly documented painters who worked in the theatre, and its resemblance to Girtin’s panorama is therefore probably fortuitous. 

(?) 1801

Blackfriars Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral: Outline Study for the ‘Eidometropolis’, Section Six

TG1859

1802

La Rue Saint-Denis, Paris: A Scene for Thomas Dibdin’s Pantomime ‘Harlequin’s Habeas’

TG1891

1796 - 1797

The Thames, with St Paul’s and Blackfriars Bridge

TG1386

(?) 1801

The Thames from the Temple to Blackfriars: Outline Study for the ‘Eidometropolis’, Section Five

TG1856