Preparatory Work

I had a chance conversation with the Director about the possibility of seeing Saint Paul's from the roof of the National Gallery.

You can't see Saint Paul's from the National Gallery roof, but what you can see is the most extraordinary view of Nelson's Column. You're not actually at the height of Nelson. You're half way up the column standing by the central dome of the National Gallery looking towards Trafalgar Square, with Whitehall beyond the column; leading down to the House of Commons; Big Ben, Westminster Abbey; in the distance the Vickers building on the South Bank; just the edge of Central Methodist Hall.

The whole thing was laid out and I just started drawing there at first, and then I had three tall canvases made - 10 feet tall - and these have made three complementary images of Trafalgar Square with Nelson's Column. I have to confess a lifelong adulation for Nelson himself.