London: Westminster Bridge under Repair 1749

Canaletto made this drawing of Westminster Bridge under Repair in London with pen and ink wash. The bridge, built just a few years before this drawing was made, was a symbol of modernity and progress in 18th-century London. However, the depiction of the bridge under repair introduces a note of social commentary. London was a city undergoing rapid transformation, and projects such as the bridge were supposed to reflect British power. But the repairs suggest a vulnerability or a tension between the image of progress and the reality of the situation. Canaletto was an outsider, an Italian artist working for a British market, and his position outside the establishment might have given him the critical distance to expose this gap. As art historians, our job is to look at what is represented in the image but also to ask what is not represented, and why. Consulting archives, newspapers, and other documents of the time can help us to understand the relationship between art and society.