This 1994 painting by Jock McFadyen shows a scene near the artist's home.
McFadyen saw a man sniffing glue and planned to paint him. He then changed
his mind and replaced the glue-sniffer with a kissing couple. He called
the work 'Canal Lovers'.
Location of the lovers
McFadyen painted a pair of lovers whose romance is in contrast to the
bleak cityscape that surrounds them. The couple are by the Grand Union
Canal at Salmon Lane, Bow, where the railway crosses the canal. Limehouse
Basin lies nearby between the canal and the Thames.
Industrial decline
In the 19th century, Limehouse Basin - or Regent's Canal Dock as it was
also known - was one of London's busiest docks. Large quantities of coal
and timber were unloaded onto barges and carried to wharves along the
Regent's Canal. When the dock closed, the quays and wharves of Limehouse
were abandoned and became derelict.
Jock McFadyen_s website
