Paintings, Prints & Drawings — C. 1675
The Great Fire of London, 1666
This painting creates a very dramatic impression of what the fire was like. People are running out of the gates and a woman sits in despair on the ground next to her baby in a cradle. It probably represents the fire on the night of Tuesday 4 September. Newgate was a prison so the prisoners were marched out under armed guard to safety in Southwark but some escaped on the way.
The Great Fire of London started in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane on the morning of Sunday, 2 September 1666. It raged for just over four days and rapidly spread due to a strong easterly wind. This view looks towards St. Paul's Cathedral from a viewpoint outside Newgate.
The painting is derived from a painting by Jan Griffier the Elder which is known due to a lithograph published by W Birch in the early nineteenth century.
Depictions of the Great Fire continued to be made across Europe well into the 1670s. Based on the dress of the figures depicted, this painting dates to around 1675.
- Category:
- Paintings, Prints & Drawings
- Object ID:
- 27.142
- Object name:
- The Great Fire of London, 1666
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- After Griffier, Jan, the Elder
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- c. 1675
- Material:
- oil, canvas
- Measurements/duration:
- H 1031 mm, W 1650 mm (unframed), H 1140 mm, W 1780 mm, D 50 mm (framed), WT 55000 g (55 kg) (overall)
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Credit:
- —
- Copyright holder:
- digital image © London Museum
- Image credit:
- —
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.