A view of part of the intended bridge at Blackfriars, London

Blackfriars Bridge was built by the Corporation of London between 1760 and 1769 for the sum of £230,000. Its designer was the Scottish architect Robert Mylne (1733-1811).

Like most artists and architects of the period, Mylne spent time in Rome studying the art of Antiquity and the Renaissance. Whilst there, he met Giovanni Battista Piranesi whose prints and drawings of Roman architecture he much admired. Presumably, Mylne provided Piranesi with a drawing of Blackfriars Bridge on which to base this print.

The acrobatic antics of the scaffolders would hardly be allowed in the Health & Safety obsessed culture of today.