St Anne and St Agnes

No. 11

St Anne and St Agnes is on Gresham Street, just north of the Old Bailey and completely surrounded by banks in glossy, glassy offices. It has a neat garden and on the day I drew it a busy atmosphere. There was a lunchtime recital, organisers and audience buzzing about, city boys and down-and-outs mingling in the garden, lots of activity on the streets around the church. The church is now Lutheran and you can attend services in English, Latvian and Swahili.

St A&A has suffered from fire rather too many times, burning down in 1548, then in 1666 the Great Fire left nothing but the stump of the 14c tower. In the great burst of building activity that followed the fire, Wren, with the possible help of Robert Hooke, had it rebuilt by 1680. Wren designed a Greek cross plan for this small brick church, based on ideas seen in Dutch church architecture. Neither St Agnes nor St Anne could protect the church from the blitz on the night of 29th December 1940, which saw it bombed and burned again. Restoration was finally completed in 1966 thanks to a big contribution from the Lutherans.

There are a couple of views from the east and north-east, but no chance of seeing the church from the west - newer buildings press right up to the base of the tower and big metal gates prevent anyone from walking round the west and north sides. I liked the north east view because it includes Wren's 17C church, a mass of 20C buildings behind, and in front, the remains of the 2C Roman wall. So this drawing covers nearly 2000 years of London history in one sitting.

A sunny day in March was deceptively cold. I sat on the walkway wall, built as a viewing platform for the ancient remains. By half way through my hands were freezing and the line grew wobblier as the drawing progressed. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I quickly got a handle on the form of the church and enjoyed dealing with the mass of perspective problems that stemmed from the jumbled nature of the buildings. I like the boldness of the rail in the foreground, but wished the weather had allowed me to put more detail in the garden and background. The drawing doesn't feel busy enough either - needs more people.

One city type - a perfect caricature of a red-faced, upper-class banker - stopped to compliment me on my choice of subject. A gaggle of tourists viewing the Roman remains all took shy glances at my efforts. Pleased with result, glad to get out and do another drawing after such a long break.

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