A View of the Monument erected in Memory of the dreadfull Fire in the Year 1666.

This view shows the Monument, a colossal stone Doric column built between 1671 and 1677 with St Magus in the background looking down Fish Street Hill towards London Bridge. There is a Venetian feel to the image with the preeminent Monument, grand buildings and wide streets. This engraving was made after a painting by the great Venetian artist Canaletto who came to London in 1746 seeking British patrons. His works combined elegance with workaday descriptions which were very evocative of London. Within ten years of his arrival he had asserted a strong influence on British topographical painting and his influence was widely disseminated through etchings and prints such as this one.

By focusing on the height of the Monument of 202 feet high, the engraving highlights the purpose of the Monument, namely to commemorate the Great Fire of London in 1666. This distance of 202 feet is the exact distance between the Monument and the site of the start of the Fire in Pudding Lane. This engraving isa republished version of an earlier etching in 1752.