The Home of the Bird of Prey

This watercolour depicts 'The Home of the Bird of Prey' by the Thames at Limehouse a scene from 'Our Mutual Friend'. In Chapter three Dickens wrote '...down by Ratcliffe, and by Rotherhithe; down by where accumulated scum of humanity seemed to be washed from higher grounds, like so much moral sewage, and to be pausing until its own weight forced it over the bank and sunk it in the river. In and out among vessels that seemed to have got ashore, and houses that seemed to have got afloat -- among bowsprits staring into windows, and windows staring into ships - the wheels rolled on, until they stopped at a dark corner, river washed and otherwise not washed at all...The low building had the look of having once been a mill. There was a rotten wart of wood upon its forehead that seemed to indicate where sails had been...'

Very little is known about James Lawson Stewart who exhibited watercolours in various London galleries between 1883-1889. He died in c. 1918 and towards the end of life was employed to copy prints of London; the accuracy of some of the locations should therefore be questioned.

The Museum was gifted a large selection of watercolours featuring locations which appeared in Dickens's works in 1934 and a set of cigarette cards was issued by R and J Hill Ltd in 1926 and 1934 entitled Historic Places from Dickens Classics which featured watercolours by Stewart.