Anthony van den Wyngaerde’s view of London

I was looking online for a view of early sixteenth century London, and more especially for that drawn by 

Anthony van den Wyngaerde in the 1540s. This was  probably done about 1543 - as well as later depictions of royal residences from 1562. In the search I   came.upon a useful and informative article.

.

The author suggests the drawing may have originated with a commission from King Henry VIII, and may have been intended as the basis for a mural of London in one of the King’s palaces. What appears to be the preliminary or draft sketch is ten feet long. 

The  Ashmolean Museum acquired it at auction in Antwerp in the early nineteenth century. It is often reproduced in part in books on the mid-sixteenth century. Drawn only a few years after the suppression of the monasteries it is an also a valuable resource for envisaging late medieval London when the mendicant orders were still a thriving part of civic life.

The article can be accessed at A picture is worth a thousand words: Drawing Tudor Royal Gardens…

One section that is not reproduced in the blog is that showing St Paul’s with its spire - lost as a result of lightning causing a fire in June 1561. It shows clearly how the cathedral dominated much of London as well as the more distant prospect.

St Paul’s Cathedral 

St Mary Overy, now Southwark Cathedral, can be seen to the bottom right, with Winchester House to the left. Suffolk House, the property of the King's brother-in-law, is at the centre base

Image: Wikimedia Commons