Mary Hill - painter of Hampstead 

​​​

A watery sun emerges over a rain-soaked Hampstead High Street after a shower, and a rainbow is glimpsed above the rooftops. Lively children on the pavement have noticed that the rain has ceased, but a cautious or distracted passer-by continues to hold her umbrella aloft.

The scene is enlivened by the reflections of buildings and people on the wet surfaces of the street. The viewpoint is taken from the junction with Greenhill, and shows the buildings on the northeast side of the High Street coinciding with today's No's 16-18.

Known for her watercolours of Hampstead locations in the 1920s and 1930s, Mary Hill lived in the suburb for many years, having addresses at North End Lodge, South End Road and Gayton Crescent. She also resided at different times (according to information published by the Camden History Society) at Thurlow Road and Stanfield House in the High Street.

In 1938, Mary Hill published Hampstead in Light and Shade, a book of anecdotes about local people and places, illustrated with her own drawings. 

More than one version of the present watercolour is known. An identical composition by Mary Hill with only tiny differences of brushwork was with a London gallery some 15 years ago, when it featured under the title Hampstead High Street. The present version comes with an old and discoloured label in the artist's hand, transferred from the painting's former backing board. It reads: "Rainbow over High Street, Hampstead by Miss Mary Hill, 4 Gayton Crescent, Hampstead". It additionally bears the number "1.".

The artist did not have to go far to set up her easel: her address in Gayton Crescent was just a few hundred metres from the spot depicted in the painting. 

The watercolour has been newly mounted within its original frame. 

​