Thomas Shotter Boys The Customs House, London

Watercolour over pencil with gum arabic and scratching out

23 x 31.5 cm.; 9 x 12 ½ inches

Frame size 41 x 49 cm.; 16 ¼ x 19 ¼ inches

Provenance
Appleby Brothers;Private collection U.K. until 2021

This would appear to be the watercolour on which Boys’ lithograph of the subject for ‘London As It Is’, 1842, was based. A record of London in 1840s, the book was issued with plates which were hand-mounted in imitation of watercolours. Boys’ reputation was significantly enhanced by this publication. There are several differences between the final lithograph, which is in portrait format, and this watercolour, notably in the foreground where the figures are omitted in the lithograph in favour of a large group of packages with the loading machine moved from the side of the Custom House to the edge of the Thames, blocking the view of London Bridge.