161. Art, Cava & Cake The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers Painters’ Hall 16 April 2024

An organisation of painters of metals and wood is known to have existed as early as 1283.  A similar organisation of stainers, who generally worked on staining cloth for decorative wall hangings, existed as early as 1400.  The Painters and Stainers presented a joint petition to the Lord Mayor to form a united guild, which was granted; the two guilds merged and in 1581 they received a Royal Charter from Elizabeth I.  The Company is now 28th in the order of precedence.

Wendy Macklin, Consort Painter Stainer, invited Consorts to join her for an afternoon of laughter and fun.  We were greeted by Wendy and Master Ivor and shown to the Livery Hall.  Our model Ros played the grand piano with a selection of melodies while we mingled, with the promised bubbles.

Freeman Tim Wright, painting consultant to Timothy Spall for the film Mr Turner, was our tutor for the afternoon for a drawing class.

Our group split into two, with one commencing their art class, and the other being conducted on a guided tour of Painters’ Hall by the Master.

The Hall had burnt down twice, in 1666 and 1941.  Carvings allegedly by Grinling Gibbons round the front door of the second had been saved and were placed in the Court Room.  The Livery Hall is charming, a light and airy space, with beautiful stained glass panels commemorating the 12 Liverymen who have become Lord Mayor since 1922, of whom they are rightfully very proud.

The Painted Chamber, a small meeting room, had delightful paintings on the walls, which appeared to be of wood panelling but were actually painted.  Another trompe l’oeil effect was found downstairs in the Court Room where the “marble” pillars are again painted.  Redecoration of this room has won awards.  Master Ivor progressed from a window-cleaner to a very classy painter-decorator and was responsible for the award-winning transformation of this room.  He plans to refresh the art exhibited on the walls throughout on a regular basis.

As budding artists, each of us was equipped with an easel, paper, pencil, rubber (!) and pencil sharpener.  Ros, our model, was dressed as a flamenco dancer, with a wonderful skirt with dramatic flounces.  She held a variety of poses for us to sketch. 

Tim was very disciplined and would only let us sketch for a couple of minutes.  After about three sessions of this, we then had to sketch with our eyes closed (extremely difficult), and then with our other hand.  We were beginning to learn how to represent what we were seeing, and discovered that a person is generally seven and a half heads tall!

For our final sketch we were given rather longer, and a larger sheet of paper.  Some of us were naturals, others found the exercise challenging.  All our drawings were different: as we were in a circle with model Ros in the centre (holding poses remarkably well), we each had a different aspect. 

Did I do Ros justice?

We did have one or two real artists in our midst – one an art student, and Plumbers’ Consort Kathy Adams who has an artist’s studio.  Kathy was awarded the afternoon’s prize!

We were able to take our art home, and the Master gave us each some blutack so we could put our work up on the fridge!

Afternoon tea was most welcome; the cakes were an artwork in themselves! 

A variety of teas and more cava were also on offer.  It was a most unusual and enjoyable afternoon.  Thanks to Wendy, Ivor, Tim and Ros – and the catering staff.