John William Edy (1760-1820) was a painter and engraver. He trained at the Royal Academy Schools from 1779, and made a successful career in landscapes, often working with the publisher John Boydell, who sent him to make drawings for his best known work, 'Picturesque Scenery of Norway'.

Edy's view of the river shows the river bank at Lambeth in the foreground, with Westminster Bridge and Westminster Abbey in the distance. The river bank is teeming with life: there are porters unloading cargo, a ferry arriving with passengers, and a flower seller with a boat full of plants. On a flight of steps off the shore a fashionably dressed couple converse. There is a lavishly decorated barge moored in the centre, surrounded by more humble craft. An interesting inclusion is the 'Artificial Stone Manufactory' visible at the far left: this is most probably the business of Eleanor Coade, a remarkable businesswoman and sculptor who produced durable stone-like products out of ceramic. She took over the factory from Daniel Pincot, a former employee of Josiah Wedgewood. Coade stone was used on buildings from the Royal Pavilion in Brighton to the Royal Naval College in Greenwich.