On the evening of 16 October 1834 the Houses of Parliament caught fire. Large crowds gathered by the Thames as flames engulfed and then destroyed the seat of British government. The correspondent for the Gentleman’s Magazine gave an eyewitness account: “The solid walls, presenting numerous architectural apertures, appeared to glow as if red hot with fervent heat. To complete the terrors of the scene must be added the ‘dire yell’ when, as Shakespeare says, ‘by night and negligence the fire is spied in populous cities’, – the bells of St Margaret’s tolling – the firemen shouting – the crash of falling timbers – the drums of the footguards beating to arms, and the clarions of the horse guards wailing through the air.” At half past nine the roof of the House of Lords fell in. “Bright coruscations, as of electric fire, played in the great volume of flames, and so struck were the bystanders with the grandeur of the sight that they involuntarily (and from no bad feeling) clapped their hands as though they had been present at the closing scene of some dramatic spectacle.”

One bystander was J.M.W. Turner, who created numerous pencil sketches of the event together with nine exquisitely delicate and intensely fiery watercolours, one of which is reproduced here. Some art historians think it depicts the moment when the roof of the House of Lords collapsed. Others believe it represents a later incident, when London’s brand new water-borne firepump – which had run aground that evening thanks to the combination of a dry autumn and an unusually low tide – made its belated appearance at the scene. The pump’s effect was said to have been “prodigious”, causing great clouds of smoke to swirl from the blazing buildings up into the livid night sky. But the style...

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