''Waterloo Bridge'' is an oil on canvas

riverscape painting A riverscape (also called river landscape) comprises the features of the landscape which can be found on and along a river. Most features of riverscapes include natural landforms (such as meanders and oxbow lakes) but they can also include artifici ...

by the British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

, from 1820. It depicts a view of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

looking eastwards towards

Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge () is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges. Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at the ...

, which had opened three years earlier. Also visible are notable other London landmarks including

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

and

Saint Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

. In the foreground are waterman and bathers. Constable's patron

John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Chu ...

described it as

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of cityscapes or ...

-like. Constable spent many years working on a major project '' The Opening of Waterloo Bridge'', showing the events of 1817, which was finally displayed at the

Royal Academy Exhibition of 1832 The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1832 was the annual Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. It took place at Somerset House between 7 May and 21 July 1832. As with the previous year's exhibition, it was notable for the rivalry be ...

. Today it is in the collection of the

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ...

, in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. A smaller version is owned by the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, in

.Bailey p.148

References

Bibliography

* Bailey, Anthony. ''John Constable: A Kingdom of his Own''. Random House, 2012. * Charles, Victoria. ''Constable''. Parkstone International, 2015. * Hamilton, James. ''Constable: A Portrait''. Hachette UK, 2022. * Reynolds, Graham. ''Constable's England''. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983. * Thornes, John E. ''John Constable's Skies: A Fusion of Art and Science''. A&C Black, 1999. Paintings by John Constable 1820 paintings Collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum London in art Bridges in art Rivers in art Ships in art River Thames in art {{1820s-painting-stub

See also

References

Bibliography