You may recognise it from your copy of THE STORY OF THE BRITISH NATION (Hutchinson 1920)
You can see the houses of London Town consumed by flames as the people rescue their treasures .
But look again- those people are on the quay at Newlyn- and surely some of those faces are familiar from Newlyn scenes! Yes it was painted at Newlyn.
Interesting to compare this with the finished version. The final composition differs in various details.
The one at the Royal Exchange measures 5.2 by 4.3 METRES! Ours is a more manageable 75cm x 45cm.
I believe you can still see the finished work at the Royal Exchange today but it does mean going to the heart of the City of London.
Ours has the advantage that you could buy it today and have it it to hang on your own wall at home- it is for sale here now.
What did the NEW YORK TIMES say?
18th February 1899.
'The decoration of the walls of the Royal Exchange, London, is fast making progress, and the huge mural painting by Mr Stanhope Forbes, A.R.A., of "The Great Fire of London." has been put in its place. Mr. Forbes's picture was painted at Newlyn, but it was brought to London, and was shown recently at a studio. Mr. Forbes had found his subject on the banks of the Thames, which was, according to Evelyn's account of the fire, "covered with goods floating, all the barges and boats laden with what some had time and courage to save." The picture shows an ancient river-wall, with the burning city in the background and middle distance, and in the foreground a motley crowd of houseless Londoners carrying their children and their household treasures down to the boats. Smoke and sparks sweep across the twilight sky, and the glare of the burning houses reddens the river from bank to bank. The new picture for the decoration of the Royal Exchange has been presented by the Sun Insurance Company, an institution which, fortunately for its proprietors, did not come into existence until more than half a century after the great fire.."
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