6 Marlborough Road
At the time of Artists at Home, George Anderson Lawson had only recently established himself at 6 Marlborough Road (now Marlborough Place), St. John’s Wood,[1] having moved there in 1883 from 36 Gloucester Road, St. Pancras. The home and studio on Marlborough Road had previously belonged to the Scottish landscape painter John MacWhirter, A.R.A, who also appears in Artists at Home. Lawson’s studio was for independent use and featured a garden pavilion.
The neighborhood had a strong artistic community and was home to painters Philip Calderon and Briton Riviere, among others. Joseph Hatton, an author who sometimes documented the lives of contemporary artists, also lived nearby.[2] Lawson, however, does not seem to have integrated into this thriving artists’ community. He resided at 6 Marlborough Road until at least 1891, by which time he was a widower, living with two domestic servants.[3]
Karuna Srikureja
[1] Robin L. Woodward, “Nineteenth century Scottish sculpture,” PhD diss., University of Edinburgh, 1979.
[2] Giles Walkley, Artists’ Houses in London 1764–1914 (Aldershot, Hants, England; Brookfield, VT: Scholar Press), 1994.
[3] “George Lawson,” London 1891 Census record, UK Census Online, www.ukcensusonline.com. Lawson had married Jane Frier (b. 1834) in Glasgow in 1862.