The popularity of Canaletto in England, especially after his visit in 1746-55, created a school of English view painters. The most famous member of that school was Samuel Scott (1702-72), who graduated from marine subjects in the style of Willem van de Velde II to London topography in the manner of Canaletto. Scott has become a useful catch-all name to associate with any mid-century London view with accurate perspective and precision of detail. There is a group of fifteen such paintings in the Royal Collection, none good enough to be by Scott himself, most of them re-cycling existing compositions. This is a composition know through several versions, two in the Royal Collection (OM 601-2, 402435 and 400012), which may be dated to the early 1740s. The original design may be Scott but this version is certainly not. It is one of a pair with a view fo the Horse Guards (OM 603, 402436). are looking directly down Pall Mall, which lines up on the west side of St James's Street here clearly marked by a pavement; the spire of St Martin in the Fields is visible in the distance. To the right is St James's Palace: the Tudor gatehouse and windows of the Chapel Royal, partly covered by later rather scrappy building. East of this instead of Marlborough Road cutting across (as it does now) the Palace perimeter wall continues behind which are red-brick blocks marking the exterior of Friary Court, beyond this appears the white stucco of the Queen's Chapel and beyond that the brick fringed with stone of Marlborough House. The people are seen strolling in the foreground, some stopping to watch the guard change, while carriages drive along Pall-Mall. The costumes date the image to the 1740s.