Various plans for a bridge across the narrowest point of the Avon Gorge, from Clifton, the upper part of Bristol, and the cliffs of Somerset's Leigh Woods on the other side of the river had been made since the mid-18th century. Until it was built, a small rowboat, the Rownham Ferry, carried people between the banks beneath. The competition and selection process were controversial and complicated. Eventually, designs by the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel triumphed. A first ceremony to mark the start of work had taken place in June 1831, but the project had been halted by the devastating impact of the riots on the city a few months later. The Bristol School's genre painter Samuel Colman here depicts the events of 27 August 1836, when the Marquis of Northampton actually laid the foundation stone of one abutment of the suspension bridge on the southern side of the river opposite the city.

Colman's painting conveys the popular enthusiasm for as well as the concerns over the great engineering projects of Bristol. People dressed in their finest clothes have come out find a vantage point along and above the busy river and observe the spectacle. Many of those present would have seen prints of the bridge's design when they were displayed to the public, and appreciated the way it would complement or potentially threaten the dramatic scenery. In the painting, the artist has further emphasised the aesthetic impact, by reducing the scale of the steam ships and boats on the water below. The Avon appears much wider than it actually is rendering the scene more sublime. The steam from the vessels below mingles with the clouds hanging over the scene lit by a low sun in the West. Colman has taken artistic licence as the ceremony actually took place at 7 o'clock in the morning.

It was not until after Brunel's death in 1859, after much delay and financial struggle, that the bridge was completed in his honour and it finally opened in 1864. Today it is the city's most prominent landmark.

[From: 'Absolutely Bizarre! Strange Tales from the Bristol School of Artists (1800-1840)', catalogue of an exhibition held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Bordeaux, June 10 to October 17, 2021.]