A depiction of shipping on the Thames looking upriver towards London Bridge. A number of craft are visible including Thames barges, lighters, a steam tug and cargo ships. Signed ‘W L Wyllie’ bottom left, this work was exhibited in the Special Exhibition Gallery, October 1974.

Wyllie (1851-1931) spent much of his artistic life drawing, painting and etching the Thames. Up until the early 1950s London was the greatest port in the world. At that time it had seven dock systems covering a water area of about 720 acres, surrounded by about 35 miles of quayside. The riverfront between London Bridge and Gravesend was lined with wharves, factories and warehouses. Barges carried goods far upstream from the Pool of London.