Walter Gay, View from a London Window by user from Antiques & Fine Art magazine

Walter Gay (American, 1856–1937)
View from a London Window
Circa 1900–1929
Gouache on paper, 14 x 11 1/4 inches
Signed, located, and dated at lower left: Walter Gay/London 19?? (illegible date)
Inscribed lower right: Walter Gay
Courtesy of Brown Corbin Fine Art

Expatriate artist Walter Gay, who resided mostly in France, was an avid collector of both antique frames and art. Gay sometimes used period frames, such as the Louis XIII example shown here, to ensconce his own work, and his collection of empty frames at times became the subject matter of his paintings.

William Rieder, author of the recent book A Charmed Couple: The Art and Life of Walter and Matilda Gay (Abrams, 2000), has commented that “Gay did, I believe, only a few city views
seen through a window.” Fortunately, Rieder was able to identify the rare London view shown here as “…from Garlant’s Hotel looking south on Suffolk Street toward Pall Mall. Suffolk Street is a short street between Haymarket and the National Gallery just to the west of Trafalgar Square. Garlant’s Hotel was destroyed by bombs during the Second World War—the Gays stayed at this hotel on several trips between 1900 and the late 1920s.”