Paper

Student Artwork Guide

The Thames at Westminster

Edwin Edwards

Name Class Date
Edwin Edwards, The Thames at Westminster. Public domain. See this canvas under a moving light: the drawing, the true colour under the varnish, the bare pigment

The facts

Artist
Edwin Edwards topimpressionists.com/en/artists/edwin-edwards/
Artist’s dates
1823 – 1879
Original size
35 x 96 cm
Movement
Impressionism Painters working fast and outdoors to catch how light actually looked at one moment, rather than finishing smoothly in a studio.

Copyright This work is in the public domain. Edwin Edwards died in 1879; copyright lasts 70 years after the artist’s death, so it ended in 1949.

Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 29, 2026

The Thames at Westminster — Edwin Edwards Part 1 · The artwork

In context

The Thames at Westminster — Edwin Edwards

How big is it?

The original measures 35 × 96 cm (height × width), drawn here beside an adult of average height.

When might this have been painted?

  1. 1820
  2. 1830
  3. 1840
  4. 1850
  5. 1860
  6. 1870

Row above: the years. Row below: how old the artist was at the start and at the end of each span — 0 at birth, 56 at death.

Shaded: the lifetime of Edwin Edwards (1823–1879) every dated painting, decade by decade

This record has no exact year on file — using the artist's lifetime and the work's style, what decade would you guess?

Compare with

Pick one work above: name two things it shares with this one, and one thing that's different.

More works to set beside this one: topimpressionists.com/en/art/similar/edwin-edwards-the-thames-at-westminster-AQSDGG-en/

Colours

Measured from the image

    Main colour

    Espresso #584d47

    Catalogued palette

    • #584D47
    • #7E7164
    • #AAA69D
    • #2A2524

    These colours inside the artist’s whole palette Find other paintings by colour

    Palette
    Earthy The dominant colour family in the image.
    Main colour name
    Espresso
    Intensity
    Monochromatic How saturated and varied the colours are, from a single toned-down hue to many bright ones.
    Contrast
    Bold How much the colours differ in lightness and saturation across the picture.
    Harmony
    Balanced Harmony How well the colours work together, from clashing to fully unified.
    Brightness
    Balanced How light or dark the picture reads overall, from deep shadow to bright highlight.
    Saturation
    Muted How pure and strong the colours are, from near-grey to fully vivid.

    Where in the world is this painting looked at?

    • under 1%
    • 1–3%
    • 3–8%
    • 8–20%
    • 20% and over
    This painting alone has too few recorded visitors to map, so the plate reads every work by Edwin Edwards over the last twelve months — 1 countries in all. Where these figures come from

    The ten leading countries

    1. 1 China 100.0%

    Find the three darkest countries on the map. Is the museum that keeps this painting in any of them? Write down one reason people far away might look at it.

    The 6 most looked-at works by Edwin Edwards

    1. 1 The Pool, London 33.3%
    2. 2 Towing Path, Sunbury on Thames, 1867 16.7%
    3. 3 Fishing by the River at Wilford Ferry, Nottingham, Barge in the Background 16.7%
    4. 4 Surlingham Ferry 16.7%
    5. 5 Raglan Castle 16.7%
    6. — The Thames at Westminster this painting 0.0%

    Together these works take 100.0% of all the attention this artist's paintings received over the last twelve months. The catalogue holds 18 works by this artist, of which 5 were looked at at least once. This painting has not been looked at yet in that time — it closes the list without a rank. The same counts, month by month

    Bars measure attention, not quality. Pick the work at the top and this one: name one thing that might make a painting famous beyond how well it is painted.

    Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 29, 2026

    The Thames at Westminster — Edwin Edwards Part 2 · In context

    Artist and museum

    Artist

    Edwin Edwards

    Where to read more

    Find this online

    QR code linking to the download page for The Thames at Westminster

    topimpressionists.com/en/art/download/edwin-edwards-the-thames-at-westminster-AQSDGG-en/

    Cite this artwork

    MLA
    Edwards, Edwin. The Thames at Westminster. n.d., https://topimpressionists.com/en/art/edwin-edwards-the-thames-at-westminster-AQSDGG-en/
    APA
    Edwards, Edwin (n.d.). The Thames at Westminster [Painting]. https://topimpressionists.com/en/art/edwin-edwards-the-thames-at-westminster-AQSDGG-en/
    Chicago
    Edwin Edwards. The Thames at Westminster. n.d. https://topimpressionists.com/en/art/edwin-edwards-the-thames-at-westminster-AQSDGG-en/
    Harvard
    Edwards, Edwin (n.d.) The Thames at Westminster. Available at: https://topimpressionists.com/en/art/edwin-edwards-the-thames-at-westminster-AQSDGG-en/

    Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 29, 2026

    The Thames at Westminster — Edwin Edwards Part 3 · Artist and museum

    Look closely

    The Thames at Westminster — Edwin Edwards

    Look closely

    Answer in your own words. There are no wrong answers here — only answers you can explain.

    1. What catches your eye first, and why?
    2. Which colours or shapes create the mood — and what is that mood?
    3. Our catalogue files this work under: london cityscape, river thames view, maritime history. Do you agree? What would you add, or take away?
    4. Look back at High Street, Whitechapel (1869), earlier in this guide. Name two things it shares with this work, and one that is different.
    5. Impressionism: Painters working fast and outdoors to catch how light actually looked at one moment, rather than finishing smoothly in a studio. Where can you see that in this work?

    Your response

    Write a short paragraph about this artwork. Use the facts from the earlier parts of this guide, and your answers above.

    Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 29, 2026

    The Thames at Westminster — Edwin Edwards Part 4 · Look closely

    Questions & Answers

    What does "The Thames at Westminster" share with the rest of Edwin Edwards's output?

    Within Edwin Edwards's output, "The Thames at Westminster" sits in the Impressionism style, alongside the themes of realism & impressionism, british landscape tradition, whistler's aesthetic", maritime trade and power, urban development, "shift, exploration of urban scenes.

    How is the palette of "The Thames at Westminster" by Edwin Edwards described?

    The colors of "The Thames at Westminster" form an earthy palette. This classification describes the dominant color families.

    What other names is Edwin Edwards known by?

    Edwin Edwards appears under the alternate names William Oliver.