London from Greenwich Hill - YCBA Collections Search

Henry Dawson, 1811–1878, British, London from Greenwich Hill, 1869 to 1870

Copy Caption to clipboard | Request photography | Print Record | Print Large Print Record

Creator:: Henry Dawson, born in Hull, England, 1811; active in England; died in London, England, 1878
Title:: London from Greenwich Hill [1869, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition catalogue]
Date:: 1869 to 1870
Materials & Techniques:: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:: 72 x 107 1/2 inches (182.9 x 273.1 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:: Signed and dated in brown paint, lower right: " 18. H.D. monogram Dawson.69"
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1981.25.216
Classification:: Paintings
Collection:: Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:: B1981.25.216FR
Subject Terms:: air pollution | amputee | basket | bottles | buildings | children | chimneys | cityscape | clouds | columns | costume | deer | docks | domes | drinking glasses | flag | footpaths | genre subject | grasses | headgear | hills | industrialization | landscape | masts | men | parasols | railing | river | rooftops | sailboats | sky | smoke | smokestacks | stag | steamboats | stool | table | tablecloth | telescope | towers | trees | walking stick | water | windows | women
Associated Places:: England | Greater London | Greenwich | Greenwich Hospital | Greenwich Park | Isle of Dogs | Queen's House | Royal Naval College | Thames | United Kingdom
Access:: On view
Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:726
Export:: XML
IIIF Manifest:: JSON

In the foreground, a group of women and children gather around a pensioner from London’s Greenwich Hospital, a home for retired sailors, located at the bottom of the hill. The loss of his leg speaks to the human cost behind the prosperity enjoyed by those walking through the park. The view from Greenwich Hill across the Thames had long been popular with artists, but by the time Dawson painted this canvas, large swathes of the capital had been given over to factories that manufactured goods from materials from across the globe while belching smoke into the sky. The river was not only the city’s central artery but also connected it to its port and, by extension, to the rest of the British Empire.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025

In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Juxtapositions (Yale Center for British Art, 1997-11-19 - 1998-01-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 84-85, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Arthur Dawson, The life of Henry Dawson, landscape painter, 1811-1878, with plates from some of his works , Seeley, London, 1891, pp. 94,96,98,102, NJ18 D298 D38 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Fine Arts, Royal Academy , Athenaeum, no. 2170, May 29, 1869, p. 739, Avaialble online : British Periodicals II Also available: .A88 At421 + (SML) [ORBIS]

Fine Arts, The National Gallery , Athenaeum, no. 2158, March 6, 1869, pp. 347-48, Available online: British Periodicals II Also Available: A88 At421 + (SML) [ORBIS]

International Exhibition, Art Journal, v. 33, August 1871, p. 202, J10 Ar74+ (LSF) Available online in British Periodical database. [ORBIS]

H. C. Marillier, The Liverpool School of Painters, an account of the Liverpool Academy from 1810 to 1867 with memoirs of the principal artists , John Murray, London, 1904, p. 117, N332 L65 M3 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Obituary, Art Journal, v. 41, March 1879, p. 48, Available online : British Periodicals database. [ORBIS]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 1, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

The Naval Gallery, Greenwich Hospital, Athenaeum, no. 2230, July 23, 1870, p. 121, Available Online: British Periodicals II Also Available: A88 At421 + (SML) [ORBIS]

Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., English life and landscape, an exhibition of English pictures, 1730-1870, 8th March-8th April 1971. , [London, 1971, no. 39, ND1314.4 A35 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Christopher Wood, Dictionary of Victorian painters, with guide to auction prices, ... and index to artists' monograms. , Antique Collectors' Club, [Woodbridge], 1971, p. 36, ND35 W66 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

If you have information about this object that may be of assistance please contact us.