St Paul's Cathedral, London, with the Lord Mayor's Procession

David Roberts's painting of St Paul's Cathedral documenting the Lord Mayor's Show of 1836 captures one of the great civic ceremonies of Victorian London, with the newly inaugurated Lord Mayor's procession passing Wren's cathedral accompanied by the pageantry of City guilds and companies. Roberts was well-placed to document London's ceremonial life alongside his architectural studies, and the painting combines portrait of a building with documentary record of civic culture. The Lord Mayor's Show was the most ancient surviving ceremonial procession in London, and Roberts's version preserves a particular year of a tradition stretching back to the thirteenth century.

Roberts renders Wren's dome and the surrounding cityscape with his characteristic architectural precision. The animated procession and the atmospheric rendering of London's hazy light add vivacity and atmosphere to the architectural composition.