1-191-470 - © London Museum/Heritage-Images

'The Great Fire of London, 1666', (c1666). Scene depicting the fire as it would have appeared between eight and nine o'clock on the evening of Tuesday 4th September from a boat in the vicinity of Tower Wharf. In the centre St Paul's Cathedral is engulfed in flames. On the left the full moon rises over London Bridge, with the Tower of London on the right. In the foreground huddle the frightened and homeless people of London. Over 13,000 houses were destroyed, but there were only a handful of deaths. 87 churches were burned along with St Paul's. The wharf in front of the Tower did not in fact exist and may be attributed to artistic licence, but the general mood and details such as the sparks rising in the night sky suggest the artist was an eye-witness.