Etching & aquatint in edition of 75

Image size 30 x 30 cm

Paper size 42 x 42 cm

‘A Tale of London’ is a narative print exploring some key events of the High Middle Ages in London, both fact and fiction. The story begins with Dick Whittington and his cat, which has been aggrandised to a leopard reflecting both the legendary prowess of the cat and heraldic symbolism of the leopards of England. From here a number of vignettes take the viewer through a wooded landscape leading to the emerging city itself; a London dominated by The Tower.

Scenes and characters:

Dick Whittington and his cat in front of the Royal Oak in Richmond Park

A plague doctor and a number of rats representing the wave of plagues afflicting London

A medieval queen on horseback beside an Eleanor Cross

William the Conquer with knights on horseback.

King Harold enthroned

Bears, a fox and a stag roaming freely

A shepherd taking his flock to market

Woodland cottages

A wine merchant heads to the city

Gog and Magog, the traditional guardians of the city, dancing/fighting

King Cnut attempts to turn back the tide of the Thames

The burial of Edward the Confessor, Archbishop Stigand

An elephant given by Louis IX of France to Henry III

A number of ravens (from The Tower) are dotted throughout the scene

London with the medieval Tower

A number of sailing vessels on the Thames indicating London’s trading status

A Tale of London is printed on Somerset Velvet, an off-white heavyweight 300 gsm handmade paper from St Cuthbert's Mill in Somerset.

£250.00