DOI Heft:
No. 12 (March, 1894)
DOI Artikel:Marshall, Herbert: Letters from artists to artists, [6], London as a sketching ground
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17189#0229
Letters from Artists to Artists.— VL London
Trafalgar Square is pictorially disappointing.
This splendid site in the very heart of London, the
forum of its people, the home of its art treasures,
where the eastern life ends and the western begins,
has nothing worthy of its beautiful natural features,
either in dignified mass of building or even acci-
dental grouping of its monuments. The church
of St. Martin, the column of Nelson, and the
statue of King Charles I. are not of importance
sufficient to dominate so large an area; and although
from windows partial views of the Square may be
obtained, they lack concentration and are full of
scattered and cross motives. It is with an unsatis-
fied feeling that one turns away into Whitehall,
soon, however, to be consoled as the Westminster
towers are seen rising over the fan-shaped group of
trees near Richmond Terrace, the roadway covered
in its full breadth by traffic of all kinds and flanked
on either side by the Horse Guards and the Ban-
queting Hall. This approach to Westminster is
■one of the most attractive of London's thorough-
fares ; beautiful in every light, in every season, and
sustaining throughout its interest until at the end
of the street the whole group of the Houses of
Parliament and the Abbey, with its attendant St.
Margaret, open into full view, grey and silvery
under the noonday haze. These Westminster
buildings owe their varied colouring and mystery
to the proximity of the river, the absence of all
restless detail and ornament greatly enhancing the
impressiveness of the mass. There are many
i
points of view for sketching purposes to be found ;
the best, I think, are from the Palace Hotel,
from St. Stephen's Club, the fountain at the end
of George Street, and from a corner behind the
Sessions House. Before leaving the neighbour-
hood, go by Millbank towards Vauxhall, and at
the Horseferry the rough road is overhung by deep
red and tawny sails of huge hay-barges lying along-
side, reminding one more of Venice or Chioggia
than of a street in Westminster.
The Embankment, the views from the bridges
and the river scenery, I hope to dwell upon in a
future letter. Herisert Marshall.
217
-k
AT CHARING CROSS
Trafalgar Square is pictorially disappointing.
This splendid site in the very heart of London, the
forum of its people, the home of its art treasures,
where the eastern life ends and the western begins,
has nothing worthy of its beautiful natural features,
either in dignified mass of building or even acci-
dental grouping of its monuments. The church
of St. Martin, the column of Nelson, and the
statue of King Charles I. are not of importance
sufficient to dominate so large an area; and although
from windows partial views of the Square may be
obtained, they lack concentration and are full of
scattered and cross motives. It is with an unsatis-
fied feeling that one turns away into Whitehall,
soon, however, to be consoled as the Westminster
towers are seen rising over the fan-shaped group of
trees near Richmond Terrace, the roadway covered
in its full breadth by traffic of all kinds and flanked
on either side by the Horse Guards and the Ban-
queting Hall. This approach to Westminster is
■one of the most attractive of London's thorough-
fares ; beautiful in every light, in every season, and
sustaining throughout its interest until at the end
of the street the whole group of the Houses of
Parliament and the Abbey, with its attendant St.
Margaret, open into full view, grey and silvery
under the noonday haze. These Westminster
buildings owe their varied colouring and mystery
to the proximity of the river, the absence of all
restless detail and ornament greatly enhancing the
impressiveness of the mass. There are many
i
points of view for sketching purposes to be found ;
the best, I think, are from the Palace Hotel,
from St. Stephen's Club, the fountain at the end
of George Street, and from a corner behind the
Sessions House. Before leaving the neighbour-
hood, go by Millbank towards Vauxhall, and at
the Horseferry the rough road is overhung by deep
red and tawny sails of huge hay-barges lying along-
side, reminding one more of Venice or Chioggia
than of a street in Westminster.
The Embankment, the views from the bridges
and the river scenery, I hope to dwell upon in a
future letter. Herisert Marshall.
217
-k
AT CHARING CROSS