St Mary Overy, Southwark

Hollar’s London still survives in parts and many visitors will recognise the buildings found in these two views of the city. An example of modern town planning, Covent Garden was a fashionable address when it was built in the 1630s. Not long after Hollar returned to London in 1652 a vegetable market developed in the square and the aristocracy moved elsewhere – replaced by coffee houses, pubs and prostitutes.

Hollar made many drawings of London from the tower of St Mary Overy, ‘over the river’, on the south bank of the River Thames. After the Great Fire of London in 1666 Hollar created a print showing two views from the church tower – one before the fire, and one of the charred ruins.

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