The former probably Royal Academy, 1791, no.390;
The latter probably Royal Academy,ꦉ 1788, no.433

William Marlow was very much at the height of his powers when he executed these two magnificent views of London.  When a young man, Marlow had been apprenticed to Samuel Scott, and it was from him that♏ he had learnt how to observe and paint topographical views of London.  Scott himself was greatly influenced by the works of Canaletto which he had painted during his stay in England between 1746-55, and bet🔴ween them Marlow and Scott were the only artists successfully to adopt the influence of Canaletto on English topographical painting. 

Canaletto had painted a number of remarkable compositions of Whitehall during his stay in England, 💛but he never attempted this ambitious view along Whitehall towards the area which was to become Trafalgar Square.  The entrance to Horse Guards dominates the left of the composition, and to the right there is a magnificent view of the Banqueting House.  Horse Guards stands on the site of Henry VIII’s tournament ground, and was originally the main entrance to Buckingham Palace.  The 🌠buildings of Horse Guards were designed by William Kent, and completed in 1755.  Diagonally opposite stands the new Banqueting House which was designed by Inigo Jones in the seventeenth century to replace the Hall which had been destroyed by fire.   

The second view of London Bridge looking towards the Monument is an iꦑconic view of London and the Thames, and was a prospect which both Scott and Canaletto had painted.  The Monument was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and was erected between 1671 and 1677 as a commemoration of the Great Fire of London in 1666.  Traversing the Thames is Old London Bridge, which, until the opening of Westminster Bridge in 1750, was the only bridge across the Thames.  The congestion of the bridge was so unsustainable that a new bridge was designed in the early nineteenth century and building was eventually completed in 1831.  Old London Bridge continued in use until the new bridge opened, after which it was demolished. 

It was commonplace for artists such as Antonio Joli, 💖and Samuel Scott to paint views of London in pairs, but mostly these views were taken fro♔m the River Thames.  Marlow’s choice to incorporate a view of the heart of eighteenth century London ideally complements the more traditional river view.

Although Marlow is nev🏅er known to have exhibited a pair of views comprising London Bridge and Whitehall, Marlow did exhibit a 'View of London Bridge' at the Royal Academy in 1788, and a 'View of Whitehall' at the Royal Academy in 1791, and it is likely that these are the exhibited pictures.  There are three oils which relate to the view of Whitehall, a sm♌aller work which is in the Yale Center for British Art, a second which is in the possession Lord Carrington, and a third, much wider view of Whitehall, which was formerly with Agnew. 

William Marlow was an artist of remarkable ability, but one about whom we know very little.  He is known to have travelled on the continent, and by the 1780 his important patrons were known to include the Dukes of Devonshire, Grafton, and Rutland, as well as Frederick Howard, 8^th Earl of Carlisle.  In his Diary Farington records the intriguing, if not particularly informative, personal circumstances that “Marlow resides at Twickenham with a man whose name is Curtis.  He was a butcher when Marlow first became acquainted with his wife, who he met at Vauxhall.  He has lived more than 20 years with them, & there are now 6 or 7 children, some of them very like Marlow.  A strange instance of infatuation.  He still applies to painting, but with very little of his former power” (Diary, 28^th June 1808).

We are gratef🥂ul to Michael Liversidge for his help in cataloguing these pictures.