Bayswater Turnpike, Kensington

From 1772 Paul Sandby lived at 4 St George's Row,north of the Bayswater turnpike depicted here, the main road out of London to Oxford. He made many studies of the neighbourhood and here depicted on the left behind the wall the tress of Kensington Gardens, while the stream under the road is the Westbourne, on its way to feed the Serpentine.

Sandby explores the impact of the turnpike on a developing London suburb on a sunny morning. A carriage is depicted passing the open turnpike, while a man on horseback stops to greet a pedestrian coming the other way.

A leading figure in the development of the British watercolour school and a founding member of the Royal Academy, Sandby was also employed as a drawing master and enjoyed success as a printmaker.
Over one hundred of his landscape and topographical engravings were published in 'The Virtuosi's Museum' between 1778 and 1781. He made use of bodycolour to create works of strength which could compete with oil paintings when exhibited. This view was probably exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1807.