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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