So here’s a thing. Matt Prosser saw the picture below and went to repeat the same view with a contempory photograph. But guess what: there is no vantage point that offers that view. Matt writes:

Your last blog of the early 19^th Century view of Bath and the Clump got me thinking so I went along to Prior Park with my son to see if we could find the vantage point.

I’m pretty convinced that the unknown painter set his easel in the grounds of Prior Park, which was laid out in the mid 18^th Century.

However, it would appear that he used some artistic license to ‘squeeze’ the clump into his view of Bath as my ‘photographic evidence’ shows.

The perspective of the Abbey, the position of Pultney Bridge and the heights of Lansdown in my photo all correspond well with the painting but the Clump is way off to the left.

I surmise that the clump was too good a feature to leave out of the painting so suitable adjustments were made

And here’s his evidence. Thanks Matt!