Painting at Bedtime. The Blue Hat. George Leslie Hunter. Hunter was one of a group of artists known collectively as the 'Glasgow Colourists'. He was mainly self-taught and lived in California for 14 years, from the age of 15. His paintings feature colour and light.

Painting at Bedtime. Winter's White Silence. Lucy Kemp-Welch. She was one of the best known artists in the UK, until her star faded after the Second World War. She is enjoying a bit of a revival now. She specialised in paintings of horses and illustrated the novel Black Beauty.

Painting at Bedtime. Viscountess Cullen. Peter Lely. Lely was a painter of Dutch origin who spent most of his 17th century career in England, where he was the foremost portrait painter in the middle part of the century. His painting of Elizabeth Trentham is typical of his style.

Painting at Bedtime. Her Mother's Voice. Sir William Quiller Orchardson. Today is St Andrew's Day, patron Saint of Scotland, so here is a Scottish artist. The painting shows an old widower listening to his daughter singing at the piano, with a voice just like that of her mother.

Painting at Bedtime. The Red Hammock. Sir John Lavery. This is the life. Artist's model Lillian Millar poses in a capacious hammock with a huge pillow and a parasol. Lavery often painted images of middle class women relaxing in a variety of situations.

Painting at Bedtime. Madame de Pompadour. Francois Boucher. Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was the official Chief Mistress of Louis XV from 1745 - 1751, and remained influential afterwards. Boucher, who was quite famous for his more risque paintings, was also a good portraitist.

Painting at Bedtime. The Forgotten Melody. Dame Ethel Walker. I have mentioned several times about formerly well known artists suddenly falling out of favour, and Dame Ethel was one of those. Only about 6 women have been awarded DBE for painting and Dame Ethel was one.

Painting at Bedtime. Pleasant Dreams. Emma Sandys. Until comparatively recently, quite a few of Emma's paintings were attributed to her more famous brother Frederick. She painted in a Pre-Raphaelite style, mainly women in flower settings. She died, probably of TB, at 36.

Painting at Bedtime. The Ballet Shoe. Dame Laura Knight. Knight had a number of subjects to which she often returned. Prominent were beach paintings, gypsies and theatre scenes, like this one showing a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe. They are very evocative of their time.

Painting at Bedtime. Choosing. George Frederic Watts. The last time I was in the National Portrait Gallery in London, this painting was displayed with lots of portraits of men in grey suits, so it really stood out. Ellen Terry married Watts when she was 17 and he was 46.

Painting at Bedtime. A Street Altar. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Many modern art critics are decidedly sniffy about Alma-Tadema, but in his own day he was extremely successful and the detail in his paintings are very accurate. The public loved them, as interest in Rome was high.

Painting at Bedtime. Portsmouth Dockyard. James Tissot. Tissot was a well known French artist when he came to live in the UK, but he got quite a lot of grief for painting people who were not upper class. This painting shows a soldier who is not an officer with two ladies.

Painting at Bedtime. La Loge (The Theatre Box). Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This painting is in the Courtald Gallery in London, but if you had been in London in 1874 you could have had this very cheaply. In fact it did not sell. The sitters are Edmond Renoir and Nini Lopez.