I expect that many of you like me have never heard of Lady Louisa Waterford.
And yet in her time she was a well renowned artist. She was friends with the likes of Ruskin and likely to have known more of the Pre-Raphaelites. Even Queen Victoria would have heard of her. And yet today she is barely mentioned when talking and learning about the Pre-Raphaelites.
When me and my husband went to Northumberland on holiday we visited the Ford & Etal estate where amongst it is The Lady Waterford Hall. We had no idea what to expect when we entered but it simply took our breath away. Inside this small hall built as a school for the local children are these enormous, beautiful motifs of bible stories adorning the upper part of the rather attractive building. Many call it Northumberlands ‘Sistine Chapel’ and I can understand why. The paintings are exquisite.
She started painting the motifs in 1862 and took her 21 years to complete. She called it her ‘great experiment’. And she did it on stretched paper, yes paper, and painted with watercolour. How on earth it has survived so long is beyond me but whilst chatting with one of the guides there has been a lot of work done to help restore and conserve these precious paintings. There is even a story that some of the school children threw snowballs at one of the motifs which led to the panel being varnished.
Why they threw snowballs at that particular panel is a mystery and yet it may lie in the fact that in all the paintings, Lady Louisa had used the locals as models for each character including the school children. It may have been a fun attack on someone they knew. Who knows but it is a wonder that the panels have survived at all.
There is so much more I could say here about this truly remarkable lady but they say it so much better on the official website https://www.ford-and-etal.co.uk/lady-waterford-hall/
If you are ever in the area, please make the effort to visit. It's free to enter unless you’re a large group of 20 plus when a donation is requested. See below my photos of our visit.
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