London Bridge, from Southwark Bridge, plate four from Original Views of London as It Is 1842

Curator: As you look at this scene, what's your immediate response? Editor: Hmm, wistful melancholy, mostly. All that grey. It's like a sigh captured in watercolor, though a beautifully rendered sigh, mind you. Curator: That's interesting. What contributes to that mood for you? Editor: Definitely the muted palette, the somber tones washing over the city. Even the water seems to reflect the sky's dreariness. And the wisps of smoke on the buildings, just barely. Everything feels still, subdued. What about you? Curator: Well, what we are looking at is a lithograph titled "London Bridge, from Southwark Bridge, plate four from Original Views of London as It Is." Thomas Shotter Boys completed it around 1842. It is a moment where industrial ambition meets romantic sentimentality, capturing both London’s burgeoning industrial might and its inherent sublimity. Editor: Sublimity, eh? I guess I see the echo of that. Curator: Shotter Boys was interested in documenting London as it changed, capturing the essence of the city for public consumption. These prints, accessible to a wide audience, were meant to be more than just pretty pictures; they offered a slice of urban life during rapid transformation. Editor: But does that urban life look especially... lively to you? There's very little hustle-bustle going on; very few folks walking about that you can spot. A few little tugboats... distant architecture, to be sure. But to me it does seem, really, rather deserted. Almost apocalyptic... if not for the church steeples sticking out in the distance. Curator: Perhaps he found the city's soul in its stillness, capturing a brief respite before the next wave of change crashed ashore. In other words, an observation more on civic spaces in the abstract, than in reality, necessarily. Editor: Yes, maybe you're right... Curator: In conclusion, a perfect blend of romantic sensibilities, artistic ability and reportage about mid-19th Century London—one for the ages! Editor: Agreed. One melancholy watercolor.