Hand colured and engraved, framed and mounted print depicting John Rennie's Waterloo Bridge by the artist and engraver John Shury after a painting by W.G. Moss.

Canova said of Charles Rennie’s Waterloo Bridge that ‘it is worth going to England solely to see Rennie’s bridge’ and declared it ‘the noblest bridge in the world’.

Rennie’s Waterloo Bridge was built by Jolliffe & Banks from 1811–1817 under what was then the largest, and most expensive, bridge contract ever undertaken in Britain. The design of the bridge adopted an elegant elliptical shape for the arches, creating a flatter bridge with easier gradients for travellers and incorporated Rennie’s recognised motif of paired Doric pillars on the piers.

Following the demolition of Old Lond Bridge (which had acted to slow the flow of the Thames) the scouring of the river began to undermine the foundations of the bridge, causing serious subsidence from at least 1884. In the 1920’s the bridge was closed to traffic and a new bridge, by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was commissioned and constructed during the Second World War.