East India House

London: R. Ackermann, 1817. Aquatint, printed in colours and finished by hand, by J.C. Stadler. A fine view of East India House after an artist whose work "shows great truth and accuracy" (DNB)

An important record of one of the vanished landmarks of London: East India House, in Leadenhall Street in the City of London, was demolished in the 1860s, and the new Lloyd's building now stands on the site. Thomas Hosmer Shepherd was probably the son of the topographical watercolour artist George Shepherd (fl. 1800-1830) and therefore the brother of George Sidney Shepherd (d.1858), who also executed numerous first class topographical works. T.H. Shepherd "painted exclusively views of streets and old buildings in London and other cities, which he executed with great truth and accuracy. He drew the whole of the illustrations for the following topographical works: Metropolitan Improvements, or London in the Nineteenth Century, 1827; London and its Environs in the Nineteenth Century, 1829; Modern Athens displayed, or Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, 1829; Views of Bath and Bristol, 1829-31; London Interiors, with their Costumes and Ceremonies, 1841-3; and A Picturesque Tour on the Regent's Canal. Shepherd was largely employed by Frederick Crace in making watercolour views of old buildings in London previous to their demolition, and some hundreds of these are in the Crace collection in the British Museum." (DNB).