Walter Greaves

Hammersmith Bridge on Boat-race Day

c.1862

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Historic and Modern British Art: Art for the Crowd: 1815–1905

Artist: Walter Greaves 1846–1930
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 914 × 1397 mm
frame: 1172 × 1660 × 113 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1922
Reference: N03643

Display caption

Walter Greaves was the son of a Thames boatman and a self-taught painter. A dense crowd is assembled on Hammersmith suspension bridge to watch the annual university boat race. There were fears that the bridge was not strong enough to support the weight of heavy traffic when around 12,000 people gathered there for the event in 1870. Greaves captures the diversity of London at this time, although this work, painted in his early style, simplifies and caricatures the individuals in the crowd.

Gallery label, May 2023

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Explore

architecture(30,960)
- bridges and viaducts(4,123)
- - bridge(3,989)
leisure and pastimes(3,435)
- sport(511)
- - rowing(20)
people(22,072)
- adults(20,120)
- - man(10,453)
  - woman(9,110)
- groups(5,156)
- - audience(103)
places(26,467)
- UK countries and regions(24,355)
- - England(19,202)
- UK London(1,640)
- - Hammersmith, Hammersmith Bridge(8)
- UK natural features(5,430)
- - River Thames(731)
society(15,153)
- transport: land(2,189)
- - bus(109)
- transport: water(8,015)
- - boat, rowing(688)
work and occupations(5,453)
- arts and entertainment(7,210)
- - entertainer(49)
- military(862)
- - soldier(1,204)

You might like

Sir Augustus Wall Callcott Wooden Bridge

c.1835
William Powell Frith The Derby Day

1856–8

On display at Tate Britain part of Historic and Modern British Art
Benjamin Robert Haydon Punch or May Day

1829

On display at Tate Britain part of Historic and Modern British Art
George Jones Lucknow: Evening. The Sufferers Besieged at Lucknow, Rescued by General Lord Clyde; November

exhibited 1869
Robert Braithwaite Martineau The Last Day in the Old Home

1862
Peter Graham A Rainy Day

1871
Edwin Edwards The Thames from a Wharf at Waterloo Bridge

?1866
James Abbott McNeill Whistler Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge

c.1872–5

On display at Tate Britain part of Historic and Modern British Art
Joseph Mallord William Turner The Thames above Waterloo Bridge

c.1830–5
David Cox A Windy Day

1850
Arthur Boyd Houghton Punch and Judy

c.1860
Walter Greaves Old Battersea Bridge

1874
Walter Greaves Battersea Reach

c.1870
Philip Wilson Steer The Bridge

1887–8

On display at Tate Britain part of Historic and Modern British Art
Paul Maitland Surrey Side of the River - Grey Day

c.1886

In the shop

Browse the shop