Poster artwork; The proud city, the noble fabric of the church of St Clement Danes, by Walter E Spradbery, 1944

'The Proud City' was a series of six posters commissioned by London Transport in 1944. The images were painted by Walter E Spradbery, who found beauty and hope amidst the ruins of war- scarred London. This is the artwork for one of his posters. It depicts the church of St Clement Danes. The original church was built on its present site, between Fleet Street and Aldwych, in the 10th century. It was rebuilt in the 11th and 14th centuries and again by Christopher Wren in 1681. After the bombings of 1941, the interior had to be entirely reconstructed. The remaining steeple and walls, seen here, stand as a testament to London's survival of the Blitz. The series provides an excellent example of how London Transport posters were used as a form of propaganda during the war, rather than for advertising and publicity purposes.