A View of the Thames at Westminster on The Lord Mayor’s Day

Maker Thomas Wijck (Dutch, 1616 - 1677)

Collections

European Painting Highlights

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1673 - 1674

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 24 × 35 13/16 in. (60.9 × 90.9 cm.) frame: 28 3/4 × 41 1/8 in. (73 × 104.5 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Art Collectors' Council, with additional support from the Adele S. Browning Memorial Art Fund

Status

On view

Label TextWijck does not simply record the details of the Lord Mayor’s Day maritime procession but evokes the sensory experience of the spectacle, including firing cannons and blowing trumpets. In the lower left corner, he even includes two figures brandishing oars at one another in an altercation. Wijck represents recognizable monuments along the city skyline, including Whitehall Palace and Westminster Hall. London's guilds occupy the boats in the foreground, including the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries, Clothworkers, and Vintners. These mercantile companies had a significant global impact: apothecaries, for example, were among the chief buyers of goods like spices and natural specimens imported by the British East India Company.

Object number2025.8