John Baptist Malchair lodged at 12, Broad Street from at least 1772, and this view was therefore the most familiar of all that he drew. He made at least three drawings of it by moonlight: a large version at 6 pm on New Year's Day, 1790, another rather similar, and a smaller version. The present drawing may have been made a few years earlier, and is unusual in its highly wrought technique, with no wash and extensive scratching out to mark the edges of the clouds. The paper is coarser than usual, and Malchair has made full use of its strong grain to vary the texture surface of the drawing.