Varley, one of the most influential watercolour painters of the early nineteenth century, was born in a house adjoining Hackney churchyard. The present drawing shows the sixteenth century tower of the parish church of St. Augustine. The tower and funerary monument to the left of the church survived its demolition in 1798, following the building of a new church dedicated to St. John on the same site. Another version of this drawing, which is dated 1830 and includes a dog running in the foreground, is held at the British Museum, London.
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1. British Museum, London, inv. no. 1958-7-12-448