Palace of Whitehall

This watercolour depicts part of the Palace of Whitehall. In the latter part of the eighteenth century much of the building was leased for new houses to be built as the Palace had been substantially destroyed.

Very little is known about James Lawson Stewart who exhibited watercolours in various London galleries between 1883-89. 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.