Bedridden for several years during childhood, the Norwich-born artist Edward Seago began to paint scenes from his bedroom window. He later rebelled against this restrictive experience by joining a circus, travelling and sailing, including a voyage to Antarctica in 1956–7, all of which provided inspiration for his paintings. Seago served in the Royal Engineers in World War II, and after being invalided out in 1944 was invited to document the Italian Campaign. In 1953 he was appointed as official artist of the Coronation.
Stylistically, Seago drew sustenance from the English landscape tradition: from the Norwich School of Artists, Alfred Munnings, and above all John Constable. Thames from Lambeth Bridge (c.1973) is characteristic of his mature style in its impressionistic approach, deftly conveying the play of light on water, the breadth of the river and London’s architecture, veiled by distance and the city’s haze.
