A Sunset, with a View of Nine Elms
- Artist: Samuel Scott
- Date: c.1750–60
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 520 x 962 x 22 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the painting “A Sunset, with a View of Nine Elms” by Samuel Scott, dated about 1750–60. The scene is a long, narrow oil on canvas that captures the Thames at twilight, looking west from the area now occupied by New Covent Garden Market. You can see the Nine Elms pier on the left, the tall elms that gave the district its name in the background, and the distant church tower—likely St Mary’s, Battersea—on the far horizon.
Scott painted this as part of a pair. Its companion is a morning view of Cuckold’s Point, and together they illustrate the dramatic change of light across a single day. The artist was heavily influenced by Dutch river scenes, especially the work of Willem van de Velde, and he kept a strong sense of tonal variation. In fact, these are the only known works by Scott where he deliberately contrasts two times of day and two distinct river areas.
The canvas was probably made for an overdoor, a decorative piece hung above a doorway, which was common in the 18th‑century London homes of the rising middle class. After many owners and a long period of anonymity, the painting was reunited with its pendant in the 1970s, thanks to a gift from the Friends of the Tate Gallery. It offers a quiet, atmospheric glimpse of the Thames just before nightfall, reflecting both the pastoral charm and the industrial edge of London in that era.
See it in person
A Sunset, with a View of Nine Elms is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
