The Houses of Parliament with the Royal Procession, 1804

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, lettered "The Houses of Parliament, with the Royal Procession." An ornate state coach drawn by a long team of horses moves across the square before the Parliament buildings, escorted by mounted outriders and footmen. A dense crowd of spectators presses forward in the foreground, men wave their hats, and figures watch from every window and from a crowded balcony. A plain stuccoed building and taller older ranges with a slender turret close the view, and Gothic buildings rise at the left under a dark, stormy sky.

The title is engraved in script below the image. The engraver's credit "Thompson sculp." is at lower right; no artist is named on this plate. The imprint above the image reads "Published April 20 1804 by Richard Phillips. No 71 St Paul's Church Yard."

The plate comes from Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis, printed for Richard Phillips, No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by C. Mercier and Co., Northumberland-court, Strand, in 1804, and "illustrated with numerous copper plates." Its plates were engraved on copper by several London engravers, each of whom signed his own work. The procession shown is the sovereign arriving in state at Westminster, among the old Parliament buildings that were largely lost in the fire of 1834.

The crowd and the ornate coach give it a strong sense of occasion.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.