View of London Bridge
Claude de Jongh
1632
Claude de Jongh’s view shows Old London Bridge, begun in the twelfth century and now remembered in the nursery rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down.” Over the course of centuries it became crowded with commercial and residential buildings, and until 1729 it was the only crossing over the river Thames. The view is from the west looking toward the Thames Estuary. The faint silhouette of the Tower of London can just be seen on the left of the composition. On the south side of the river was Southwark, home to the Rose, the Swan, and the Globe theaters, where the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries were performed.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0