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Charles-François Daubigny, 'St Paul's from the Surrey Side', about 1870-3

About the work

The shadowy dome of St Paul’s Cathedral is viewed from the south bank of the Thames. Just to the front of the cathedral the newly built Blackfriars Bridge straddles the river; behind it a train, invisible but for its plume of smoke, passes over Blackfriars Railway Bridge. The leaden sky is heavily painted in creams, greys and dirty pinks. Smoke coming from the train, the chimney on the left and the boats on the river appears to mingle with the clouds.

Daubigny painted this view on his third and longest visit to London. A refugee from the Franco-Prussian war, he arrived in October 1870 and stayed until May 1871. While it is dated 1873, after Daubigny’s return to France, it is likely that he started the work in London in 1870 or 1871, and finished it back home, at which point he signed and dated it.

Key facts

Full title
St Paul's from the Surrey Side
Artist
Charles-François Daubigny
Artist dates
1817 - 1878
Date made
about 1870-3
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
44.5 × 81 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit
Presented by friends of Mr. J.C.J. Drucker, 1912
Inventory number
NG2876
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
19th-century French Frame (original frame)

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

More works by Charles-François Daubigny

(Showing 6 of 7 works)
Alders
Alders
Charles-François Daubigny
The stretch of water in the foreground almost certainly lies near to Daubigny’s home in Auvers-sur-Oise. Its surface is covered with vegetation, including clumps of reeds and water-lilies. A woman in a red and white hat sits at the far side, under a clump of alders. This is an evening scene, with...
Not on display
Honoré Daumier
Honoré Daumier
Charles-François Daubigny
Portraits by Daubigny are quite rare, as he was primarily a landscape painter who was closely associated with the Barbizon group. He and Daumier, who was an artist, printmaker and caricaturist, had been friends since meeting in Paris in the 1840s. This portrait may have been painted between 1867...
On display elsewhere
Landscape with Cattle by a Stream
Landscape with Cattle by a Stream
Charles-François Daubigny
On the left a rocky hillside leads down to grassy pasture and a river. Cart tracks run through the pasture from the front edge. Cows graze, watched by a dog, and a lone washerwoman kneels on the right bank of the river, her white linen visible in the water. The river is the Cure in the Morvan reg...
Not on display
River Scene with Ducks
River Scene with Ducks
Charles-François Daubigny
This peaceful river landscape depicts the Oise near the village of Auvers, where Daubigny built a home in 1860. At the far right, mostly hidden by a clump of trees, is Daubigny’s studio boat, nicknamed Le Botin (Little Box). It was originally a ferry boat which the artist had converted with the...
Not on display
The Garden Wall, Auvers-sur-Oise
The Garden Wall, Auvers-sur-Oise
Charles-François Daubigny
A path runs along a white wall with a grassy common to the right. The wall features two pale brown gates. Trees behind the wall suggest a garden or orchard. The tonality is light, with the pale grey paint of the wall overlaid with small, square touches of creams, yellows and pinks, giving a sense...
Not on display
View on the Oise
View on the Oise
Charles-François Daubigny
The washerwoman at the right, a common motif in Daubigny’s river scenes, dips some blue cloth into the water. Close inspection reveals that she is kneeling in a box, commonly used by laundresses at the time to keep themselves dry and relatively comfortable. To the front of her the water is punctu...
Not on display
Willows
Willows
Charles-François Daubigny
A wooded bank and lake open onto a vista of trees and pasture. At the left two boys are fishing. A fishing rod leans on the bank, and the right-hand boy is peering into a basket, perhaps at his catch. This purely imaginary scene is the last in a series of four versions of the same composition. It...
Not on display
You've viewed 6 of 7 works