Frederick Mercer RBSA Horse-Drawn Coaching Scene

An original 19th-century watercolour painting, Frederick Mercer RBSA, Horse-Drawn Coaching Scene.

A very fine small watercolour showing a vibrant coaching scene, by Frederick Mercer RBSA (1850–1939). The animated scene features a variety of figures, including a well dressed lady in the central carriage and a man atop the coach smoking a churchwarden pipe.

One of the greatest coaching artists of the 19th century was Charles Cooper Henderson (1803–1877), to whose work this painting bears similarity. Coaching played an important role in the development of transport around the UK in the early 19th century as well as in the British postal service. Coach driving was recognised as a skilled profession and coaching inns grew up around the main coaching routes. This interesting scene shows the varied characters that may be encountered as a passenger on such a coach.

Frederick Mercer RBSA (1850–1939) was born in Birmingham. His father was a fishmonger and Frederick started work as an errand boy at the age of ten. By the age of twenty he was employed as a photographer, before going on to become a professional watercolourist. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists between 1871 and 1911, some 116 works in all. In 1888 he was elected an Associate of the RBSA and full member in 1922. He exhibited six watercolours at Suffolk Street and four works at the New Watercolour Society.

On wove paper with partial blindstamp at lower left corner.