( - 1874)
It is not known where or when the watercolourist Samuel Rayner was born. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in London from 1821 and after this date his works appear regularly in exhibitions at the Academy and various watercolour societies. Most are interior views of churches and historical buildings. Several watercolours by Rayner were engraved, including five or six which appeared in a series of books written by John Britton, each an account of the ‘Histories and Antiquities’ of a particular English cathedral. Rayner was a member of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours until 1851 when he was expelled after being charged with fraud. He married and had five daughters, all of whom painted. He died at his home in Brighton in 1874.
