A Sunset, with a View of Nine Elms

A Sunset, with a View of Nine Elms, painted in 1755, depicts the reach of the Thames at Battersea that was still largely rural in Scott's time but would later become an industrial district dominated by railways and the Battersea Power Station. The sunset lighting represents an unusual atmospheric departure from Scott's typically clear, descriptive Thames views. 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and topographical painting for three decades, filling the gap left by the death of the van de Veldes and not finally superseded until the emergence of Nicholas Pocock and J.M.W. Turner.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 warm sunset palette creates a more poetic mood than Scott's usual topographical precision, with the silhouetted buildings and vessels along the Nine Elms shore bathed in golden evening light.