Lot 2109
FREDERICK CALVERT (1793-1852)
NEW HUNGERFORD MARKET
Signed and dated indistinctly, probably 1836, oil on canvas
70 x 89.5cm.
* This busy produce market on the Strand in London was established in 1682 on land owned by the Farleigh Hungerford family of Bath. Hungerford House had been destroyed by fire in 1669, an event recorded by Samuel Pepys, but the elegant Italianate building depicted here was designed by Charles Fowler and opened in 1833. The new market covered nearly 60,000 square feet and the 200 feet of river frontage onto the Thames allowed fish to be delivered for sale on the lower floor whilst fruit and vegetables were traded alongside taverns and taprooms on the floors above. After two decades of dwindling commercial success when Hungerford Market struggled to compete with larger markets at Billingsgate and Covent Garden, a further fire in 1854 ruined the neighbouring building. The market was closed and the plot was subsequently acquired by South Eastern Railway who built Charing Cross station on the site (opened in 1864).
