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The Rayners: Intro  //  Ann  Frances  Louise  Margaret  Nancy  Richard  Rose  Samuel  //  Known Paintings  Sources
Regional pages on Louise:   Chester  Dudley  Flint  Northern England  Eastern England  London and the South East
                                       Wales and the west Midlands   South and South West   Scotland   Louise Abroad

LOUISE RAYNER in LONDON and the SOUTH EAST

                   HELP! We cannot identify a town painting by Louise. To take a look, please click here.

LONDON
Louise spent a substantial time in London but there are very few paintings in our list of her works, which is both surprising and disappointing. It's possible that some paintings went into permanent ownership and others were destroyed in the course of the London Blitz in World War Two - or perhaps she just tended to look for subjects outside the city. However, she did find several subjects in one tight geographical area.

The first is Temple Bar, London, which seems to have intrigued Louise or appealed to clients, as she painted several versions of it. Temple Bar was the last surviving City gateway, having replaced a wooden gate that had separated the City of London from Westminster. The gate had burned down in the Great Fire of London (1666) and this Portland stone portal went up in 1669-72.
Temple Bar
But by Louise's time the Bar had become an impediment to traffic so it was carefully dismantled in 1878 and the parts carried off to Hertfordshire, where it was rather badly reassembled 10 years later at Theobalds Park. This dismantling meant that Louise had to derive her later versions from her earlier studies and paintings such as this one here. A bit too late for Louise's purposes, Temple Bar returned to London in 2004, repaired and re-erected as a gateway to the newly redeveloped Paternoster Square.

The above view by Louise is certainly appealing, with the coach and horses having apparently just come through the gate to stand in the middle of the road. Two horses seem inadequate for the pile of humanity on the coach (and a woman and children about to join them). The coach is far too late for the Shillibeer period of early horse buses, so it would be from one of the competing companies that sprang up afterwards. One of those companies was called "Omnibus" (Latin for "For All"), soon shortened to "bus" - the generic word we now use everywhere. At the left, and in the shadows to the right, are small two-wheeler Hansom cabs. The painting is before the Bar was dismantled but otherwise not dated. The contrast in dress between the two ladies suggests that it could be late 1860s or early 1870s, a point when big bulky skirts began to slim down considerably.

In the foreground, the small youth with a broom is a crossing- sweeper. He made his living in half-penny and penny tips for sweeping paths through the inevitable by-products of horse transport so that you could get across without staining and perfuming your skirts or trousers. He collected the droppings into sacks and sold them as manure. If necessary (and it sometimes was) he would fight Temple Bar detail for his patch.

The second view at far right has less detail in the background buildings and a different set of vehicles and figures. As in the painting above, the lower right window above the gate is open and has someone peering out, and the crossing sweeper is there again. When we look under the arch in the enlarged detail here, we see the back of a vehicle just like the one above - another horse bus, probably from the same company.
Temple Bar (2)

For those not aware of it, the Temple being referred to here was not religious, but instead was (and is) the home of the English legal system. It is a very short distance from Fleet Street, the home of most of our national newspapers until the 1980s. One wonders if the proximity was accidental or to enable each to keep a close eye on the other. The upper painting went to auction by Christies in November 2006, where it sold for £7,800. We have no date or price for the lower one, which shares the same title, but Bonhams sold a second example in 2004 for £4000.

Wych Street, view 1 Below right is a segment of Drury Lane, London sold by Christies in 2005, with Drury Court full of activity with flower and possibly fruit trade in progress, and typical round wicker baskets stacked at right.
Drury Court segment

Wych Street, view 2 Above left: Drury Court, London, viewed from Drury Lane and showing its junction with Wych Street. On the left corner is Symonds, whose trade isn't clear, but the higher sign offers tea and coffee rooms. Partway down a quieter Drury Court than seen above right, sunshine slashes across the street. Almost beside it a street light stands in the middle of the road. A painting by another artist explains it more clearly: the rest of the Court is pedestrian only - the lamp marks where carts have to bear right into the sunlight. At the far end of the Court is the steeple of St Mary le Strand. The City of London Collage collection (see below) has an almost identical view by Louise but with different figures. Theirs is thought to be about 1875 and this is probably about the same period.

At right: Looking north along Wych Street itself, this time seeing St. Clement Danes Church in the background. This painting went to auction at Christies in November 2006, but didn't reach its reserve.


Wych Street (derived from Via de Aldwich, an old lane it was once part of) was in London's theatre district close to the south end of Drury Lane near The Strand. While that might suggest a romantic view of the street, the reality in Louise's time was less becoming (described in one place as "low-life"), with the street mixing minor theatres such as the Olympic Theatre, Opera Comique and the Globe Theatre (but not the best-known one!) with inns of court and chancery, and public houses. The latter included the Angel Inn, the White Lion tavern, and at an earlier time the Queen of Bohemia, named after Elizabeth of Bohemia, the daughter of James I - and Lord Craven's mistress. And there was also an only-partially-suppressed shop selling books and prints of a decidedly dubious nature.

You might wonder how a small street could encompass so many things, but it accessed areas hidden behind it and even beneath it, and shared by other streets such as Hollywell Street. And their worn and ancient condition was what drew Louise to them: the area had escaped the ravages of the Great Fire of London (1666) and as a result retained the kind of decrepit but characterful Elizabethan houses that flew so readily to her paintbrush. Wych Street itself was demolished and disappeared in 1901 as part of a redevelopment scheme, and the street level was by then distinctly more modern than in her paintings, so we'd guess this was painted 1860s-1880s. We know that Louise also painted Hollywell Street, but we haven't seen that painting.

Right: The north end of Drury Lane runs into High Holborn, where we find the final painting from this location, Staple Inn, Holborn. This painting forms a permanent pair with Drury Court, London, at left above. They were auctioned by Sotheby's in 2005 for £4,800.

There is a very similar painting by Louise from the same viewpoint on the City of London's Collage site, and this carries the description "View east along Holborn with figures and horse-drawn vehicles on the street". The main subject is clearly the same Elizabethan frontage on the north side of the road, dating originally from between 1570 and 1588, and hiding the courts of Staple Inn behind it. This building still exists and has been restored (which is good) but by the mid-1930s had fallen prey to the usual restorer's belief that "if it's Elizabethan and framed, it has to be painted black and white". Well, no, actually...

Holborn streetlampCity of London suggest c.1875 for the date of their picture, but the one here looks to be a different period. One query is the street lighting. The City of London image has this lamp (see left) on the pavement - absent from the painting at right. It just happens that early electric street lighting experiments took place on Holborn Viaduct and the Embankment, and we don't know if the Staple Inn area was included.

Carbon arc lights were installed in 1878,
   Holborn, London
which these are not, but they were followed in 1882 by incandescent (light bulb) lamps, with Thomas Edison's company installing about 4000. These can be virtually indistinguishable from gas lamps, even when painted by an artist who enjoys detail - so we're still not sure!

For more information on getting the City of London prints, see the bottom of our sources page.

Louise's painting Horseguards, London shows the building of that name built 1751-3 between Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade. Until 1904 the building was the headquarters of the British Army's general staff. The building still has a military function, but to the onlooker it is simply one of London's spectacles as the troops come out to set and change the guard. It's possible that the Household Cavalry's ceremonial uniform with highly-polished breastplate was old-fashioned even when Louise painted them, but horses were still a key element in battlefield mobility, and the men wearing those breast- plates were probably fully-trained serving soldiers.

20th century armour and mechanisation largely ended the use of horses in the front line, so the two regiments that support the Household Cavalry now operate in two joint units: one ceremonial, the other in active service with the Royal Armoured Corps.

We don't have a date for the painting but would suggest at least the 1870s and possibly as late as the 1890s.

   Horseguards, London

The last London image we have is of the Tabard Inn. This is the point where Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims set out, just on the south side of the Thames in Southwark. Talbot Yard is its former stable yard. Unfortunately we only have a monochrome image, but as usual, Louise's scene is brimming with life and the work being done to keep the inn running - cleaning the bed sheets, moving beer barrels, etc. There are several signs and the covered wagon appears to have extensive writing along its canvas (possibly the places it calls at, since the lines all seem to be the same size rather than big lettering for the company), but we cannot make out a single word on any of them!

Talbot Yard was auctioned by Christies in July 1989, and expected to make between £3000 and £5000. We don't know if it's been seen since.
Talbot Yard


ETON AND WINDSOR
Eton Street and Curfew Tower, Windsor Ruth Gadsby sent us the above image from an old print whose frame looked 70 years old or more, and asked for help in identifying it. At first we didn't click to the top hats, and two of us didn't recognise the tower, but Andy King knew it right away as Eton and part of Windsor Castle, showing Curfew Tower in the castle walls near St George's Chapel. Its upper stories and roof had recently been reconstructed under the direction of Anthony Salvin. This makes the painting post-1866 (but it could have been post-1885, in which year the Tower had to be refaced as the stone chosen in 1866 had proved to be too soft!). Since writing this, we have learned that the painting shown here is Eton High Street and dates from around 1870. But we believe that there is a near-identical painting of the scene called View along Eton Street to Curfew Tower, Windsor Castle, which may have the same date or a later one.
Businesses in the street include the flower seller's cart; "Adam & Eve", which appears to be a shop; and a frustratingly half-legible sign reading something like "Bar****s Centre". On the right near the carts, Ruth thought the shop might be a farriers; it doesn't look like a butchers, but the dangling bits on the awning might belong to a clothiers. Finally, when we were still trying to get the location, Tom Kerr did a search for "Turks Head Inn" and found the name went back to at least the 13th century, but this example wasn't among those traced, and it may be that the inn has since gone.



We didn't know the title for this image (right), either, though boys wearing top hats made Eton a probability for the location. But we now know it to be A break from divisions at Eton College. It was auctioned by Christies in 2004.
  Eton boys outside their college

GUILDFORD
The only painting we know of for Guildford is the one that Louise painted as a thankyou to her brother Richard, and though we've listed it in our known paintings, we don't know whether a version went on sale. You can see it on Richard's page.


GREENWICH
At the gates of Greenwich
Greenwich (pronounced "grenitch") is the home of the British Royal Navy, and in the nineteenth century busily despatched sail-powered (and latterly coal-fired) men-of-war to all parts of the globe.

By the time that Louise painted At the gates of Greenwich the Danish, American, French, Spanish and any other wars we've forgotten(!) were over, and we were employing the Royal Navy as policeman of the world (not necessarily with the world's agreement!). In other words, the period of "send a gunboat" international policy. But this painting may hark back to the earlier part of the century, as many of the figures are wearing tricorn (triangular) hats. We are not naval historians, but believe that by Louise's earliest painting days, the officers at least would be wearing bicorn (fore-and-aft pointed) hats. That said, the ladies are wearing what look like 1860s fashions, thus dating the painting. The crippled figure on crutches is a reminder of the consequences of battle in a period when such victims (possibly press-ganged into the Navy in the first place) were simply thrown out to fend for themselves - often by begging.

The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells   ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Anyone visiting Tunbridge Wells as a tourist will head for The Pantiles area for its beauty and uncommon style. So it's no surprise that Louise would do the same and see its possibilities for a painting. At right we have the result: The Pantiles - Tunbridge Wells, Kent, which Christies sold for £10,800 in June 2007.

As we can see, The Pantiles is both a shopping area and a pleasant socialising area. The painting isn't dated and doesn't appear in Ellen Clayton's list, but the fashions make it Victorian - perhaps 1860s - and well before Louise moved to the area. One wonders whether the widow in black at left was simply that or a reference to Queen Victoria's loss of Prince Albert in 1861. Social mourning was a year in black, lightened in the following year with lavender - though some remained in black for life.

Sketch of The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells   Much later in life, Louise and Margaret left Chester and lived together in Tunbridge Wells from 1910 to 1920.
Among the studies left in family hands is this view of The Pantiles, which could have been done by either one of them. The clothing and the lack of uniforms suggest the very last years of the old world, 1910-1914, before the Great War engulfed us and four years changed things for ever. Both survived the war, but it was the younger sister, Margaret, who was running out of years, and she died in 1920.

As a historical footnote, the colonnade of shops dates back to the 1680s and these in their early form were called the Walks and the (Royal) Parade. Unfortunately the area was slippery and the Duke of Gloucester injured himself in 1698. Princess Anne, his mother, donated money to rectify this, and in 1700, the Upper Walks were paved with square ceramic pantiles and became the principal shopping area of the town. We don't know if the Pantiles name was official at this time, but it must have had currency as a nickname. In 1793 the pantiles were replaced with stone flagging, the area was now known simply as The Parade, and looked much as it does today in layout, although extensive replacement building continued until the mid-19th century. The whole area is now "listed" for preservation. Technically, Louise's painting shows The Parade (and may have originally been titled that), as the old Pantiles name was not revived until 1887, and she clearly painted it before then. But it's hardly surprising that the distinctive and much better known name got substituted.


Brown Gallery, Knole KNOLE
Knole (or Knowle) is a huge, mainly 15th century stately house which lies just south of Tunbridge Wells. A good deal of its Jacobean interior has survived even to the present day, and as it is now in the National Trust it can be visited. But in Louise's day the house was still in the private hands of Mortimer Sackville-West, who was elevated to the peerage as the 1st Lord Sackville in 1876.

The Rayner paintings we usually see of Knole are by Samuel or Margaret, but Louise painted several as well. So far we have only seen these two examples.
Brown Gallery, Knole The larger oil painting is The Brown Gallery, Knole, seen from the west end. It's a rarity in Louise's output in being totally without people in view (except in the portraits), but it keeps that balance between the near-photographic detail that she is so good at, and producing a scene that is still obviously art.

Brown Gallery Chairs, Knole is certainly a Rayner and is believed to be Louise's, but the artist isn't actually identified. The Brown Gallery was shown in the 1858 Royal Academy event and was conceivably quite new at the time. It's reasonable to suppose that the chairs were painted from studies made on the same occasion.



The other Knole paintings that we know of were all painted sometime before 1877. They are:
The Brown Gallery, an interior (oil) - Sold by Christies for £6,600 in Feb 2007.
The Cartoon Gallery, Knole                     In the Lofts, Knole
James the First's Bedroom, Knole           In Lady Betty Germane’s Bedchamber, Knole
.


HarbledownHARBLEDOWN
Right: Louise is known for townscapes and church interiors, but she did softer landscapes, too. Some of her earliest paintings were done in Harbledown, a village 1 mile west of Canterbury, and the family still has one of Louise's sketchbooks from this period. This is a study of a farm building there.

Some of those early paintings remain in the village today, along with paintings by Margaret, whose imagination was caught by (among other things) the interior of the church bell tower, with at least two of her paintings of it still extant.


CANTERBURY
Interior of Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Above, a truly gorgeous painting of Canterbury Cathedral. No date, but fashions and Louise's meticulous detailing suggest the 1860s - possibly from the same visit to the area as the adjacent painting.

Left: this Cathedral Interior dated 1868 was auctioned by Whyte's of Dublin in February 2003 for 3200 euros (roughly £2100). It shows Canterbury Cathedral with a possibly fanciful scene of monks at the entrance to Thomas Becket's shrine at some point after its creation in 1220 when it was then magnificent in its richness and glory. Sadly, it was plundered and destroyed during the reign of Henry VIII, and nothing remains of it.

Canterbury Cathedral
Above: a photo of Canterbury West Gate from St. Dunstans Street, looking towards the city. The photo comes from the Rayner family's collection and was either taken by Richard or bought on a visit to the city. It is a possibility that Louise or Richard intended to paint the view (they may have been together when the photo was taken/acquired). If either of them did, we've not met the result yet, but we hope that one day we will!


Old Town Gate, Rye   RYE
This painting (left) was in a Christies auction of 1989, though we don't know exactly when. Titled The Old Town Gate, Rye it was expected to reach a sale price of about £7,700, though we don't know the actual outcome.

Malcolm Johnson drew our attention to it but the image had been printed with a relatively coarse screen, making it difficult to sharpen the picture and hold its detail, so we cannot really comment on the scene - although we believe the gate itself still exists. We'd love to see a clear, full colour version of it so we could describe it properly. We don't have a date, but at a guess, 1860s/1870s.
Land gate at Rye   The second painting (left) was also auctioned by Christies, in this case on 18th July 1989, listed as Figures by town gate with haycart and artist sketching. The location is the Landgate at Rye, Kent. The family still has the artist's folding canvas seat with Samuel's and Richard's names on it. The artist at work is very probably Louise's father Samuel Rayner, in which case this is likely to be one of her (relatively) early works. We don't know what price it went for.

HASTINGS
Last (and unfortunately least) we have this tiny image of a painting called Hastings Old Town which was offered for sale by Cohen-Fontaine circa 2001 for a price in the region of £1500-£2500.

Hastings Old Town
Harry Drummond, February 2011.
Dudley Mall pages about Louise:
Louise Rayner - the main biography and a list of her earlier paintings
Louise at Chester - where Louise made her home and did some of her best work.
Louise at Dudley - front page introduction
Louise at Flint - the images for Henry Taylor's book.
Louise in Northern England - York... Selby... and hopefully more
Louise in Eastern England - Lincoln... Derby... Cambridge
Louise in London and the South East - London... Tunbridge Wells... Hastings
Louise in Wales and the west Midlands - Conway... Ludlow... Gloucester
Louise in the South and South West - Oxford... Chippenham... Salisbury
Louise in Scotland - Edinburgh
Louise in Southern Scotland - Roslin (we have no other Scottish paintings at present)
Louise Abroad - Rheims... Venice... and possibly Bruges
In preparation: - The Rayners at Windsor

Please note: we claim no art expertise, and in no way do we offer provenance for any paintings. What you see here was compiled out of interest in Louise Rayner's paintings and those by her family, but is based on sometimes very fragmentary evidence. It is thus inevitable that there will be errors, though we naturally correct these when we can.

We would gratefully receive any information or corrections that will help us to fill the gaps and resolve unproved links - for example confirmation of dates of birth, death, etc., and details of other addresses the family lived at (and roughly when). Images of any of the family's paintings are also very welcome. Thank you!

Copyright © 2011 DudleyMall.



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