* London. The Fire at The Albion, circa 1820s/30s, watercolour on wove paper, depicting a fire raging at Albion Mills, Blackfriars Bridge, with firefighters and spectators, and St Paul's Cathedral in the background, sheet size 19.5 x 26.1cm (7.75 x 10.25ins), mounted, framed and glazed, pencil inscription on backboard 'Ex collection A.W. Ackermann'Qty: (1)NOTESProvenance: from the collection of Arther W. Ackermann (1830-1914), grandson of Rudolph Ackermann. After the aquatint by Augustus Charles Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson which appeared in The Microcosm of London , published by Rudolph Ackermann in three volumes between 1808 and 1810. The Albion flour mill, designed in the neo-classical style by James Wyatt, opened at the foot of Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1786, a symbol of Britain’s rapid industrial progress during the late 18th century. The revolutionary steam engines contained therein were widely resented by millers who still relied on wind or water power, and when, on 2nd March 1791, the mill was entirely destroyed by fire, there were rumours of foul-play. It is thought that poor maintence was the real culprit, but the fire was a sensational event, and many people crowded to the site in the following weeks. The catastrophe became a symbol of the evil of industrial progress and is thought to have inspired William Blake (who lived close-by) to portray his vision of "dark Satanic Mills", now best-known as part of the hymn 'Jerusalem'.