Anonymous
St Paul’s Survives, Night Blitz in London – 1940

Lithograph

For Macmillan’s History Pictures, c. 1960
42 x 54 cm

This striking lithograph depicts St Paul’s Cathedral in London peaking through the swathes of smoke engulfing the city after a night of bombing during the blitz. The sky is illuminated by floodlights and flames, but the cathedral itself seems to provide its own light source, standing out against the destruction surrounding it.

Although the source of this lithograph is unknown, it was likely produced after Herbert Mason’s photograph ‘St Paul’s Survives’, taken during the night air raid of the 29th-30th of December 1940, the night of the ‘Second Great Fire of London.’ The photograph has become a symbol of British resilience and courage, and is considered one of the iconic images of the Blitz. It became “instantly famous”, and turned the Cathedral into “a symbol of togetherness, survival and suffering”.

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill declared that St Paul’s must be protected at all costs to preserve morale. As a result, a team of 300 volunteers came together under the name of ‘the St Paul’s Watch’ and, armed with sandbags and hoses, worked to extinguish the incendiaries raining down on the cathedral.