166 - John Macvicar Anderson, FRSE,

John Macvicar Anderson, FRSE, Scottish 1835-1914- A view of the Thames towards Westminster Bridge with the Houses of Parliament and Lambeth Palace; oil on canvas, bears label inscribed 'Westminster from the River / JOHN ANDERSON / Sold at British Institution 1866 / for £150' attached to the central vertical stretcher bar, 54.5 x 106.2 cm. Provenance: with The Cooling Galleries, London. Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 16 March 2016, lot 361 (£6,000). Property from a Distinguished British Private Collection. Exhibited: London, British Institution, 1866, no.373, as 'Westminster' [sold for £150]. Note: John Anderson exhibited two other works, also views of London, at the British Institution between 1861-66. Listed as living at 3 Wellington Road, Waltham Green, the artist also exhibited at the Royal Academy, including a view of London in 1858. He was living in Coventry by 1877, and continued to exhibit until 1884. The present work captures the changing topography of London during the Victorian era. It depicts the Thames - with its shipping and steamboats - as seen between the building of the new Westminster Bridge in 1862, and prior to the demolishment of the wharves (left foreground) in 1870 to make way for the present Victoria Tower Gardens.