The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 1834

J. M. W. Turner witnessed the fire that destroyed the Houses of Parliament on the night of 16 October 1834 from a boat on the Thames, recording the scene in on-the-spot sketches. The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, painted the following year, is one of the canvases he developed from those studies and stands among the most celebrated works of British Romantic painting.