The vast majority of images at London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery are grouped into collections. A collection might be a series of images by a particular artist, or material collected over time by an individual or organisation. Images within a particular collection generally share common thematic or topographical links, sometimes representing only a specific theme or place.

This page presents the London Picture Archive images within their collections. Works by artists such as William Hogarth and Matthew Smith are grouped together here, as are collected works by photographers such as George W F Ellis and Christopher Schwarz. The photograph and portrait collections of the London County Council (LCC) are also available here. The photograph collection provides a huge set of images of London streets, shot as a record of the developing built environment.

If you’re interested in Victorian London, try the Society for Photographing Relics of Old London (S.P.R.O.L). Collection, or for photographs of the capital during the Second World War, try Cross and Tibbs. Our collections cover a wide range of themes, but if you’re looking for subjects such as the Great Fire of London, try our Galleries page.