A Morning, with a View of Cuckold’s Point

A Morning, with a View of Cuckold's Point, painted in 1755, depicts the sharp bend in the Thames at Rotherhithe, downstream from the Pool of London. The name, from a medieval landmark, attached to a stretch of the river crowded with wharves and timber yards that Scott recorded with his characteristic documentary eye for the working Thames. Samuel Scott occupied the commanding position in British marine and topographical painting for three decades, filling the gap left by the death of the van de Veldes and not finally superseded until the emergence of Nicholas Pocock and J.M.W. Turner.

The early morning light creates atmospheric depth across the river, with vessels and riverside buildings emerging from the mist. Scott's careful rendering of the varied craft on the Thames provides a catalog of Georgian river traffic.