London Panorama, 1616

Visscher's Panorama provides one of the best views of London, just 50 years before the Great Fire in 1666. It shows the low-rise medieval City of London dominated by the spires and steeples of its churches, St Paul's Cathedral and Old London Bridge covered by shops and houses, as well as the heads of traitors on spikes. To the right is the Tower of London and St Katharine Docks, with distant views of Hampstead's windmills and the spires of Hackney and Stepney.

The Thames brims with boats of different sizes, showcasing Britain's maritime prosperity and the importance of the river to London's identity. South London is still just farmland but among the few buildings, one can make out The Globe, and next to it The Beargarden where bear-baiting, a common pastime in Elizabethan England, took place.

This reproduction is hand-coloured in artist's inks