The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons

What you see

We look down from a high bank, where a shadowy crowd is packed into the lower left. In the center, Parliament is burning, its flames and smoke sweeping diagonally toward the upper left. An arched bridge spans the river, and on the right, boats crowded with people move across the water.

The oranges, reds and yellows of the fire clash with the blues and grays of the sky. The blaze reflects in the river as a vertical column of light, and the crowd is built from quick dabs with almost no detail. Notice the pale towers rising in the distance, just right of the flames.