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Newgate Chapel

1809
Not on view
Operating under the jurisdiction of the City of London, Newgate Prison stood next to the Old Bailey courthouse, just outside the former city wall. Designed by George Dance, the forbidding prison opened in 1778 and was demolished in 1902. In addition to housing debtors, it served as a holding pen for those awaiting trial, and for condemned prisoners. This view of the prison chapel records how, on the Sunday before a hanging, condemned prisoners would sit around a coffin to listen to their last sermon. They did not need the tipstaffs, sitting upstairs, to keep them awake.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Newgate Chapel
  • Series/Portfolio: Microcosm of London, pl. 57
  • Artist: Designed and etched by Thomas Rowlandson (British, London 1757–1827 London)
  • Artist: Designed and etched by Auguste Charles Pugin (British (born France), Paris 1768/69–1832 London)
  • Artist: Aquatint by Joseph Constantine Stadler (German, active London, 1780–1822)
  • Publisher: Rudolph Ackermann, London (British, active 1794–1832)
  • Date: 1809
  • Medium: Hand-colored etching and aquatint
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 9 13/16 × 11 1/4 in. (25 × 28.5 cm)
    Plate: 9 5/16 × 10 13/16 in. (23.7 × 27.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.3.1167-130
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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