London is one of the most frequently depicted cities in the world, attracting foreign and native painters for over three centuries, from the jobbing view-taker to some of the great European masters. Its extremes of urban topography and variety of street life, experienced under swiftly changing light and weather, account for much of this detailed pictorial biography. Perhaps only Paris can compare with it in this respect, although Venice runs it close, albeit with a narrower focus. Of course, the appeal of London has not been purely visual; it has been the subject of extensive social comment from Hogarth onwards. For the most part this has entailed scenes of poverty and deprivation or ones of finger-wagging contrast, particularly by artists and photographers in the nineteenth century. At the other extreme is London as a scene of pageantry and processions, of coronations and state funerals.