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German engraving of the Great Fire showing a view of London across the Thames from the south. Huge flames and clouds of smoke billow from the city. Southwark is in the foreground.
German engraving of the Great Fire
Photograph: engraving of London before and after the Great Fire. There are 2 City panoramas. The second shows London in ruins.
Panorama of London before and after the fire
Painting in red, orange and brown showing London on fire. In the foreground is a gate with people escaping from it.
Painting of the Great Fire
Painting of the Great Fire at night. In the foreground is one of the City gates with people escaping from it. Behind this London is in ruins with orange flames reaching into the black sky.
Painting of the Great Fire
Painting in black, orange and brown showing London on fire. In the background is the City and London Bridge. In the foreground is a crowd of people on the quayside.
Painting of the Great Fire
Painting in black and orange showing London on fire. In the foreground is the River Thames with people escaping into boats.
Painting of the Great Fire
Photograph: map of London in 1666 after the Great Fire. The burnt area is shown in white.
Map of the burnt area
Dutch map of London after the Fire. In the top half of the page is the map, an image of London on fire and a rebuilding plan. The bottom half contains text in Dutch about the Great Fire.
Dutch map of London after the Fire

Art

The Great Fire was such a dramatic event that many artists were inspired to paint it or produce engravings. While these are often simply artistic interpretations of what happened, they can also provide vital information, such as Wenceslaus Hollar’s engraving of London in ruins and his map showing the burnt area.

The paintings help us to imagine just how terrifying it must have been to watch London ablaze and form a perfect accompaniment to the written accounts. Other images were used to spread the story of the fire abroad in foreign newspapers and are often old engravings of London altered to include flames and smoke.
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