A burning building seen from the water at night. Gouache painting.

Discussed online on a webpage of Art UK (Art Detective: https://www.artuk.org/artdetective/discussions/discussions/where-is-this-conflagration-and-what-is-on-fire ). There is some resemblance to the Tooley Street fire in London, which started on 22 June 1861: the warehouses on the left are comparable, and the building on the right with arched openings and a tower may be a schematic representation of St Olave's church. However St. Olave's Church is said to have been destroyed, with the surrounding buildings, in an earlier fire, on 19 August, 1843, which may be the subject of the present painting. Other suggestions include waterfront fires in Rouge River, Detroit; Philadelphia, 1892; and Washington D.C. Arsenal explosion of 1864