Whitehall from Trafalgar Square, London, 1839.

Daguerreotype by M de St Croix. This is one of the earliest daguerreotype photographs of England, taken when Frenchman M de St Croix was in London demonstrating Louis Daguerre's pioneering photographic proces during September and December 1839. The statue in the foreground is Le Sueur's statue of Charles I on horseback, and in the distance Inigo Jones' Banqueting House - practically everything else shown in the image has subsequently disappeared. The image has been reversed to show the scene as it was, as daguerreotypes only produce reversed views.