Westminster from Near the Terrace of Somerset House

Canaletto, 1697–1768

ca. 1750

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

A wide view of the River Thames with numerous boats and barges, and the city of Westminster in the distance. People are seen on a terrace in the foreground. This view, upstream toward Westminster, is the pendant to Canaletto’s view in the opposite direction, downstream toward the city of London (hanging to your left). In the eighteenth century, Somerset House, formerly the official residence of dowager queens, was mostly used to accommodate foreign ambassadors. Notable landmarks on the horizon include the following (right to left): Inigo Jones’s Banqueting House; Westminster Abbey with Hawksmoor’s completed towers; the roof of Westminster Hall; the two towers of St. Stephen’s Chapel and the four towers of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Smith Square; and, finally, Westminster Bri