Lines and Colors art blog

Eye Candy for Today: David Cox – The Opening of the New London Bridge


The Opening of the New London Bridge, David Cox

Watercolor, roughly 15 x 9 in. (38 x 24 cm).

Link is to zoomable version on Google Art Project; downloadable version on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Yale Center for British Art.

British landscape master David Cox, who I admire in particular for his watercolors, gives us a view of the celebration for opening the new London Bridge in 1831.

I like his use here of shadows cast by bright sunlight — against the walls of the inset buildings, under the awnings on the buildings and the rims of the tents, and defining the space under the arches of the bridge.

I find it interesting that the shadows in the foreground — those under the bridge — are uncharacteristically lighter than those against the more distant row of buildings on the river bank, (as a commenter has pointed out — likely catching light reflected from the water).


Comments

2 responses to “Eye Candy for Today: David Cox – The Opening of the New London Bridge”

  1. Could be shadows under bridge reduced by reflection from water underneath?

    1. Thanks, Phil. I believe you’re right. I’ve added a note to the post.