Reflections on the Thames, Westminster is an 1880 painting by English painter John Atkinson Grimshaw.
History and description The painting depicts a view of the River Thames, with the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Bridge as seen from the Victoria Embankment. The river was one of Grimshaw's favoured subjects. The embankment, 12 years earlier, had become the first street in Britain to be permanently lit by electricity.
The painting focuses on the night-time lighting of London, contrasting and combining the artificial electric lightning, a relative novelty, with brilliant moonlight, both reflecting off the waters of the Thames. Other sources of lights include the lamps across Westminster Bridge and the clock face of Big Ben.
See also
Nightfall Down the Thames
References