Artwork Information

The king lived in his palace at Whitehall while the

Archbishop of Canterbury lived at Lambeth on the other

bank of the River Thames. As heads of the government

and the Church of England, respectively, the two men

provoked the people with their policies. Less like a

palace than a small town, Whitehall consisted of many

buildings and in the 1630s, Inigo Jones added the

famous Banqueting House – the tallest building in

this view. Jones’ creation is one of the few parts of the

palace that survived the fire of 1698.

In the view of Lambeth, the tiny figure at the top of the

jetty may be Archbishop Laud. A controversial figure and

friend of the Earl of Strafford, Laud attempted to impose

religious conformity and persecuted those who opposed

him. Like Strafford and the king, he was later executed.