Charles Spencelayh

1865 - 1958

Charles Spencelayh was born in Rochester, Kent and studied at the National Art Training School in South Kensington. He showed early work at the Paris Salon, but most of his exhibitions were in Britain. Between 1892 and 1958, he exhibited more than 70 paintings at the Royal Academy. Spencelayh was a founder member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, where he exhibited 129 miniatures between 1896 and 1954. Many of his subjects were of domestic scenes, also painted with an almost photographic detail. Spencelayh was a favourite of Queen Mary, who was an avid collector of his work. In 1924, he painted a miniature of King George V for the Queen's celebrated doll's house at Windsor Castle. Spencelayh established a rich vein of nostalgic, Dickensian portraiture and subject pictures which are characteristic of his long, mature career. This early work also looks back, this time to a traditional portrait form seen in work by portraitists throughout the Victorian era. Specifically, this pose of a distinguished male, cross-legged in formal day dress of black tailcoat and grey trousers, can be seen in work by painters from Richard Ramsay Reinagle to Frank Hol.