About this artwork
During his visits to London in 1861 and 1862, George Washington Wilson took many photographs of the River Thames. At that time it was an extremely busy waterway, carrying shipping from all over the world into the capital. This stereoscopic photograph is one of a series of three, entitled ‘Waiting for, The Arrival of, and The Departure of the Boat’, which together form a narrative sequence. The images followed on from Wilson’s series ‘The Thames at Greenwich’, taken in 1861. These picturesque photographs portray the river in an artistic and poetic way, whilst drawing attention to the activity and progress of modern times. However, they give no indication of the fact that in reality the river was known as ‘a huge unquiet cesspool’, or open sewer.
Updated before 2020
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artist:George Washington Wilson (1823 - 1893) Scottish
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title:On the Thames at Greenwich - Departure of the Boat
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date created:1862
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materials:Albumen print stereograph
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measurements:8 x 7.4 cm (left); 8 x 7.2 cm (right)
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object type:
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credit line:Gift of Mrs. Riddell in memory of Peter Fletcher Riddell, 1985
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accession number:PGP R 817
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gallery:
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subject:
George Washington Wilson
George Washington Wilson
A hugely successful businessman, George Washington Wilson had left home at twelve to be a carpenter and subsequently trained as a portrait painter before turning to photography in 1853. By the 1860s he owned printing works in Aberdeen that produced thousands of prints with views from all over...
