An evocative though topographically loose image of the spires and chimneys of Greenwich seen from the Park, one of Wyllie’s many studies of London's skyline. The church on the left is the parish church of St Alfege, by Hawksmoor (1718) the spire being a recasing of that of the preceding medieval building, by John James in 1730. That on the right is St Mary's, by George Basevi, which was built as a 'chapel of ease' for the greatly expanded parish in 1823 but had fallen into disuse by the early 20th century and was demolished in 1935: in 1936 it became the site of Nixon's King William IV statue (moved from King William Street at the head of London Bridge) and in 2009/10 part of the NMM site as a new public entrance area. The two oast houses (with conical roofs) and the malt-houses in front of St Alfege (with flat-topped ventilator chimneys) are part of an old maltings which later became a manufacturing area and in the 1960s the site of Council offices, before the entire area was cleared in 2010-11 for the University of Greenwich School of Architecture (completed in 2014). The houses at lower left (with black roofs) may be late-18th century ones just outside and to the west of the St Mary's Gate of Greenwich Park , with the upper floors of the old Spread Eagle above (at the north-west end of Nevada Street), but none of the other buildings shown exist today, having all been replaced at least once.

Wyllie was born in London and knew the city, its river and port throughout his life. He painted, drew and etched many aspects of its life over a period of nearly sixty years - from around 1870 until well into the 1920s. In January 1924 he was staying at the Ship Hotel, Greenwich, and this may be a number of studies made at the time for an etching and an oil painting of the view towards London from the Park (see PAF0715 and PAF0960): ita slso relates to a second etching taken from the same viewpoint on the hill to the west of the Observatory, looking north across the Royal Naval College, of which the NMM collection does not currently (2018) hold a copy. [amended PvdM 1/14, amended 10/18]