£106,000 for picture before the Great Fire

A FASCINATING 393-year-old panoramic picture of old London showing how it looked before the devastating Great Fire has sold for £106,000.

The seven-foot engraving seen from the South Bank features the old St Paul’s Cathedral and London Bridge, which has the gruesome sight of dozens of heads on spikes.

In the foreground, people can be seen trying to sneak views of performances at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

On the Thames, which has only one bridge, there is a royal procession of boats taking King Charles I westwards.

Both Bow Church and Somerset House are seen on the banks.

On the hills, beyond what is now the city, Horowe-on-the-Hill (Harrow) is marked as is the idyllic looking Stepney village.

And Hampsted Mills – today’s Hampstead Heath – is depicted as a row of windmills.

Remarkably, Dutch artist Claes Jansz Visscher never visited London, so the work required some imagination.

As a result, the Tower of London boasts some imaginative onion-styled domes. This 1625 panorama is one of only two known copies to exist, with the other one kept in the Folger library in Washington DC.

It is likely to have been made for a Dutch merchant as there was a burgeoning trade between London and Amsterdam.

Julian Wilson, of auctioneers Christie’s, said: “The panorama commanded such a good price because of its rarity and quality.

“There are earlier views of London but not on this impressive scale.”

Pictures: BNPS Artist Claes Janz Visscher had never visited London but his panorama shows meticulous detail from the South Bank

Same view almost 400 years later but London Bridge no longer holds houses and office blocks replace church spires