Louise Rayner

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Louise Ingram Rayner (June 21, 1832, Matlock Bath - October 8, 1924, St Leonards-on-Sea) was a British watercolor artist.

Her parents, Samuel Rayner and Anne Rayner (nee Manser) were both noted artists, the former Samuel having been accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy when he was 15. Four of Louise's sisters - Ann ("Nancy"), Margaret, Rose and Frances - and her brother Richard were also artists. The family lived in Matlock Bath and Derby before moving to London in 1842.

Louise studied painting from 15, with the guidance of her father and later with artist friends such as George Cattermole, Edmund Niemann, David Roberts and Frank Stone. Her first exhibited work was entitled The Interior of Haddon Chapel, shown at the Royal Academy in 1852, the first of a series of oils. From 1860, however, her medium was watercolour, which she exhibited for over 50 years via organisations including the Society of Lady Artists, Royal Academy, Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of British Artists.

She lived in Chester but travelled extensively, painting British scenes, during the summers in 1870s and 1880s. Her paintings are very detailed and highly picturesque populated street scenes capturing the "olde worlde" character of British towns and cities. Her paintings are very popular today as prints and on jigsaw puzzles.

Around 1910 she moved with her sister to Tunbridge Wells, and later to St Leonards, where she died in 1924.

Collections of her work are held at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth and the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, which possesses 23 of her watercolours, the largest in any public collection.

[edit] References

Simon Fenwick, "Rayner, Samuel (1806–1879)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 26 June 2007
Louise Rayner, Chester City Council