Now that we knew what we were looking at, it took little time to discover that Bootham Bar (like Walmgate Bar below) once had a barbican, a protected approach to the bar itself. In this case, the barbican was partially dismantled in 1815, and the rest dealt with in 1825 or thereabouts - 6 years before Louise was born. The removal of the barbican also allowed new buildings, so some shown in the first colour painting must have been relatively new-built. This means that Louise was not painting the barbican from life, but must have gathered information (possibly from engravings and other paintings of the Bar as it once was), and worked up her own paintings from those sources. And as usual adding her characterful population. We have no title for the painting, but for identification we'll call it Barbican at Bootham Bar, York until someone supplies its real name.
YORK - MONK BAR
Our painting of Monk Bar, right, is A view of York with figures and a horse and wagon and looks from the north-east into the city. This is actually Goodramgate; Monkgate is the approach road and stops just short of the bar. The large arch in the defences is (relatively) modern - the small entrance would have once been the sole access. The cart coming through the arch is the one referred to in the title.
The nearest pavement is now absorbed by the road system that encircles the city walls, but the corner building on the right is still alive and well, and possibly in better condition than when Louise painted it. The building on the left looks to be a survivor, too, though it may have been given more substantial attention.
The foreground activity is a commonplace, but not so commonly depicted. Men to the right are digging deep, presumably to attend to a fractured sewer, gas or watermain, whilst the one at bottom left has a brazier to heat tar or whatever hot poultice was needed for the mending.
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And perhaps the inevitable crowd of onlookers included Jerome K. Jerome, who would later write Three Men in a Boat with its classic observation "I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours."
The painting was auctioned in 2005 by Charles Ross for a hammer price of £5,600.
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YORK - WALMGATE BAR
Walmgate Bar is the entrance from the south-east. We have three views of this. The paintings are almost identical in their viewpoint, which suggests that all were created from the same original studies. The first, in colour, is Walmgate, York. The forward extension of the wall is a barbican - a protected route to the gate proper. This particular defence had only a short-lived popularity and the one here is apparently the last remaining town wall barbican, though they still survive for castles (e.g. Warwick). As we saw with Monk Bar above, a new arch has been cut through the adjacent city wall to allow freer movement of traffic (other cuts through the wall were made to encourage the railway to come into York when it was being built, but the railway opted to have its station outside the wall - and given the way it developed at York, that was probably just as well).
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The upper picture has a small carriage drawn by a white horse in the gateway, suggesting nobility or perhaps mere wealth. It might also be more appealing to the kind of people who would buy Louise's paintings. The comparatively loose style of this particular painting suggests that it may have been done late in the nineteenth century (say 1890s) when that style had become popular with the public. Note also the window over the barbicon's arch; on the other two versions that we've seen (below) and in reality, it's a shield, not a window.
The lower picture, Walmgate Bar, York is probably more in tune with the commoner traffic. To the right we see tables in the street, which suggests traders out to catch the passing traffic, and there are at least three businesses in the buildings behind them.
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Finally we have the variant below, also titled Walmgate Bar, York sold by Christies in 1986 for £5200. We see more of the shops on the right, and the left side appears to be a market of some sort - possibly a stock market, though the visible area looks too small. And as noted earlier, Louise is still working from the same viewpoint - possibly the only one that makes the picture work for her.
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YORK - MICKLEGATE
Micklegate is the gate facing the south west. Sadly we have no picture of this yet. We're not even sure if Louise painted one - but we would be glad to hear from anyone who knows!
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YORK - MINOR BARS
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In addition to its main bars, York had minor bars through its walls. Fishergate Bar is one, and Victoria Bar (a 19th century creation) is the other one currently extant. We have no images of these, and at present don't know if Louise ever painted any.
For a brief historical survey of the walls, go here: Wikipedia: York City Walls
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YORK WITHIN THE WALLS
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Above left: a luminous and characterful picture by Louise Rayner, though some of the figures look dwarfish when compared with the deep kerb. Someone made a dreadful guess and titled it "Oxford", but this is York with the two towers of the west front of the Minster looming in the smoke. There is church masonry to the right of the towers, suggesting that the view is from the south east, and that the street might be somewhere like Swinegate. Note: the image was very orange when we first got hold of it, so some colour correction has been applied. It's much better here, but may still be slightly off.
Above right: Foss Gate, York, though the name is now rendered as "Fossgate". This is the extension of Walmgate as it progresses roughly north from Walmgate Bar, with the Minster's central tower up ahead. The Minster's east and west ends thus spread themselves invisibly to left and right behind the buildings of Fossgate, and again the angle on the Minster's tower suggests we're seeing it from south-south-east. As we look along the street on the left side, you can see a smaller church tucked half out of sight. We cannot match this to modern photos, so it may have been demolished. The road just before it is getting more light, so this is likely where the eastern end of Pavement arrives from the left, then crosses Fossgate to become The Stonebow. Beyond the crossing, Fossgate becomes Colliergate. This then suggests that the opening at near left is Lady Pecketts Yard (note that these may be modern names, not the ones used in Louise's time).
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Another view inside the walls, with an enlarged section showing the crowd detail. The critic's remarks (see biography) about her streets teeming with life are very true. This is one of the quieter ones! Though shopping is going on, it looks as though the initial bustle has passed - or has not yet gathered speed.
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The scene is near the centre of York and we are looking westwards along Pavement past the horse and cart to a crossroads. At the crossroads, Piccadilly goes to the left and Parliament Street (invisible here) goes to the right. High Ousegate is the road running along the right of the church while Coppergate runs along its left. The church is All Saints Pavement (there are two All Saints churches in York), and according to its web page the distinctive octagonal lantern tower was built to house a lamp to act as a beacon for travellers in the Forest of Galtres to the north of the city. We don't know when the church was built, but its contents include some from the 14th century. It's hardly surprising that Louise would look for an opportunity to include such an attractive church in one of her paintings. Figures was auctioned in July 2003 by Lawrences.
Right: The same view but closer to the church is All Saints Pavement, York.
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We know there is a Black Bull Inn 5 miles south of York on the road to Selby, but the Minster's central tower make it clear that this is a different one. It's possible that it was close to the Shambles, the famous mediaeval street that was once a butchers row, but now specialises in selling to tourists. Unfortunately, this Black Bull Inn seems to have gone (as does the Hand & Heart Inn alongside it), and without a street name to help us, we cannot be sure whether it's just the business that's gone, or the whole building. As with one of the Walmgate pictures above, Louise's painting here lacks detail and delicacy, and was either dashed off quickly or deliberately toned to down to match a different public taste. Our thanks to Sue Thie for forwarding the image, and further information on the scene would be welcome.
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SELBY
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This is Selby Market Place, with the Abbey beyond it. Selby has had a market since around 1300, and its market cross dates from 1790. It was originally placed as we see it in Louise's painting, then moved to the park, then back almost to its original location, but adjusted to leave more road space.
The Abbey behind it has existed for almost 1000 years, initially smaller and growing over time, then suffering a rollercoaster of good times and bad, not helped by being founded on sand which led to collapses largely through financial difficulties and neglect, but also including a disastrous fire in 1906 from which it rose again with remarkable speed. It is the only Benedictine Abbey in Yorkshire. It also has more architecture than is shown in Louise's painting. Her painting omits two square towers that rise at the nearer end of the Abbey, one each side of the peaked roof (but higher), and generally in the style of the main tower. She may have done this to improve the picture balance, but we have to admit we don't know when those towers were built. However, we believe the painting is slightly deeper and wider than shown here. We half-recall seeing another image of the same painting where people in the foreground had feet(!), and more of the shops on the left were visible.
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DURHAM
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Above: Durham Cathedral from Framwellgate Bridge, auctioned by Bonhams in May 2009. The bridge was built in 1120 (i.e. nearly 900 years ago) and only ceased to carry vehicular traffic in the 1970s when the Millburngate bridge was built. The name "Framwell" stems from the Fram Well on the north east side of the river. The town side of the bridge (at left in the painting) is Silver Street, part of the mediaeval section of the city's shopping area, leading steeply and narrowly up to the market square (which is why the building of the new bridge was such a relief). The Silver Street end of the bridge was once defended by a guard tower with a gate through it, but this has gone, and is not evident in the painting either.
The background of the view is dominated, of course, by Durham Cathedral. This was a direct product of William the Conqueror's successful invasion of England in 1066, and his intention to hold on to what he had taken. His first appointee at Durham with extensive political and ecclesiastical powers was weak and eventually murdered, but the second, William St Carileph, was far more effective and designed a large part of the present cathedral. He died before it was finished in 1135 (42 years after starting construction) but was very much the power behind it. And this makes the bridge and the cathedral almost exact contemporaries.
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THE UNCAUGHT...
At present, these are all the images of Northern England that have come to our hands. Other paintings we know of but haven't seen are listed below. Some will be minor variants of those on this page, but we would still be interested in seeing them if you can send us an image:
Bootham, York and A View of Bootham Bar, York
Monk Bar Gate, York and Walmgate Bar, York
The Pavement, York and A View of St. Sampson's Square, York, 1879
A View of York and Traitors Gate, York Minster
Selby Abbey and Market Place [Selby]
Market Place, Beverley, Yorkshire and any others not listed but you may know of.
Thanks!
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Harry Drummond, August 2010.
Please take 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. As such, it is inevitable that there will be errors, though we naturally hope to reduce these
over time.
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 would also be very welcome. Thank you!
Copyright © 2009 DudleyMall.
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