A.N.Other Follower of Canaletto "A painter of the town ......"       Picture from The Verney Letters of the Eighteenth Century: 1696-1799, Vol I, p.148 View of Westminster Abbey from St James's Park; 25 x 57; unsigned; attributed to Scott; Leonard Koetser Gallery Autumn 1963 Can this view, apparently looking directly East, at the West front of the Abbey, realistically be taken from St James's Park ? Entrance to the River Fleet; by or attributed to Samuel Scott, "The English Canaletto", named. The three paintings shown above have been attributed to Scott in catalogues and elsewhere, but these attributions were made before Kingzett's catalogue raisonnée in 1982. On first coming across them I felt uneasy, as they didn't seem right --- as Scotts. With the discovery of Martin Butlin's excellent Aspects of British Painting, 1988, with its illuminating comments on the pictures belonging to the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation collection, I was relieved to find that my unease had been justified. I therefore award myself as many brownie points as I can get away with. An element of Canaletto's "factitious sparkle" ? Epithet by Waterhouse. The painting below is "attributed" to Joseph Nickolls in the catalogue; but does not "show the particular idiosyncracies that are characteristic of ... works that can be definitely attributed to Nickolls." It is tempting to link Joseph Nickolls with the Sutton Nicholls who produced an engraving of London Bridge, circa 1710. See here. All that Butlin states about his life is that he was active between 1726 and 1755, but may have also painted well after that date. Some of even his signed works have been attributed to Scott. Attributed to Joseph Nickolls. Some time after 1747. Compare waterfront buildings with prints by J.T.Smith, below. Scott, Walpole and Canaletto The Drawing Room, Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk; furnished in the 1750s. Scott's paintings in situ. Old London Bridge. 1753: see Maddison, J., Felbrigg Hall, 1995 Scott painted 11 versions of this view, the first in 1747 The Tower of London. 1753: paired with London Bridge at Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk Canaletto & England is the title of an exhibition mounted in 1993-94 at the Birmingham Gas Hall Exhibition Gallery, accompanied by a substantial and richly illustrated catalogue, with several essays by leading English art historians. samuel scott: one       samuel scott: two samuel scott: three: battles       more on battles samuel scott: four calms article 1981       article 1983 monamy website index top mail cichw-0@cichw.net © Charles Harrison Wallace 2005, 2007 all rights reserved