A Shipyard on the Thames, John Cleveley the Elder, 1762

A shipyard on the thames highly likely that the painting depicts the shipyard in south rotherhithe that existed originally on the site of present surrey docks farm, located just a bit north up the stream of the greenland dock, which is located to the left of this view, just behind the row of trees serving as its windbreak. In 1762, when cleveley painted this view, the shipyard was owned by thomas stanton, who was building his last ship there, before the location was taken over by the wells family of shipbuilders, who enjoyed over 30 productive years here, building ships for the east india company and the royal navy. Brian lavery identifies the site as wells’ yard, rotherhithe and dates it to c. 1774. Arts council reference. Object Type: painting. Date: 1762. Dimensions: height: 55.6 cm (21.8 in); width: 95.3 cm (37.5 in). Medium: aquatint print with etching and engraving, oil on canvas. Depicted Place: Rotherhithe. Collection: Glasgow Museums Resource Centre. John Cleveley the Elder - A Shipyard on the Thames GL GM 3282-001