This meticulously detailed genre scene by Henry Gillard Glindoni features a young woman receiving a suitor at her home. Set in the 17th century, the painting features authentic costumes and objects from the period against the backdrop of a great hall.

Henry Gillard Glindoni or Glindon was a genre and historical painter born at Kennington Lane, Lambeth in 1852 to Robert and Esther Glindon (née Gillard). He was the third of 5 children born to his parents and was christened Henry Gillard after his mother. The family lived at South Cottage, Princess Buildings, Kennington with his widowed grandfather Francis Robert Glindon, who was an artist and ornamental painter and later theatrical scene painter. After the death of his mother in 1856, his father remarried and had a further 3 children. Perhaps due to the increasing size of the family, Glindoni and his brothers Francis and Edward went to live with his grandfather, who was then residing at 17 Cattle Street, Holborn. His grandfather most likely tutored him and his brother Edward who went on to become a scenic artist.

Glindoni started his working life following in his Grandfathers footsteps, helping him to paint theatre scenery. To supplement his income, he began sketching portraits of the actors. Encouraged by the response to his work, he began studying at the Working Men’s College and the Castle Street School of Art during the evenings. His talent for art also gained him work colouring prints and painting porcelain at a number of photographers including Valentine Blanchard. His work there inspired an interest in photography and examples of the photographs he took are held by the Valence House Museum Dagenham.

After the death of his grandfather in 1866, he went to live with his aunt and uncle at 22a Clarence Road, St Pancras. By the age of 20 he was earning his living as an artist, initially with landscapes as his predominant subject matter. However, he soon expanded this to figurative and genre scenes often of an historical nature, which then became his main body of work and for which he is perhaps best known for. In 1873 he made his debut at the Royal Academy from an address at 40 Brewer Street, exhibiting regularly there over the years. Sometime around 1877, he began signing his works H. Gillard Glindoni, most likely for professional reasons. From 1879, he exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) and at the Old Watercolour Society (now Royal Watercolour Society). He became an associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1883.

Glindoni married Ruth Wheeler on 6 March, 1878 at St James’s, Westminster and together they lived in Chelsea where their only child Esther Maria was born. In 1881, he is listed as living with his family at 40 Bremerton Street, Chelsea but after 1891, he settled in Chadwell Heath, Dagenham living at The Studio, 132 Mill Lane, which was situated at the junction of Mill Lane and Whalebone Lane North. He died at Mill Lane on 20 November, 1913 and was buried at Crow Lane Cemetery, Romford.

His diary and papers are preserved in the Dagenham Library and a number of his works can be found in various public collections including the Kirklees Museum, Royal Holloway University of London, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Valence House Museum.