Mr Mylne’s Design of a New Bridge to Be Built from Black Fryers to the Opposite Shore, Approved by the Committee of Common Council 1760

Curator: Instantly, a sense of serene ambition comes to mind, doesn't it? That crisp line work promising a new era… Editor: Indeed. Here we have "Mr Mylne’s Design of a New Bridge to Be Built from Black Fryers to the Opposite Shore, Approved by the Committee of Common Council," an intriguing print from the British School. Its emphasis, of course, is on the labor involved in such grand designs. Curator: I wonder what it felt like to imagine this bridge as more than lines—to envision the collective gasp as it arched across the river for the first time. Editor: Very romantic, but also think about the social and economic context. This isn't just about aesthetics; it's about trade, transport, and the material realities of urban development. Curator: And perhaps… a touch of the sublime, too? I get shivers imagining standing upon it, suspended between worlds. Editor: The materials themselves—the stone, the mortar, the ingenuity of human hands—they speak volumes about our aspirations. Curator: So it's a dialogue between intention and the elemental substance of the world, isn't it? Editor: Precisely. Materiality grounds our soaring imaginations, and Mylne’s design reminds us of that balance.