Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-maw-egley-170" aria-label="More by William Maw Egley" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Maw Egley</a>
Omnibus Life in London
Bequeathed by Miss J.L.R. Blaker 1947
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
advertising
architecture
basket
box
boy
bus
cane / walking stick
children
clothing and personal items
contemporary society
domestic
England
family
fine arts and music
flower
girl
group
groups
hat
hat, bonnet
instrument, drum
instrument, trumpet
lifestyle and culture
looking / watching
man
mother and child
objects
parasol
people
places
plants and flowers
poster
reading, writing, printed matter
servant
sitting
social comment
society
street
townscapes / man-made features
transport: land
UK countries and regions
UK London
umbrella
veil
vessels and containers
Westbourne, Westbourne Grove
widow
woman
woman, old
work and occupations
<p>Egley conveys the claustrophobia of the inside of an omnibus (a horse-drawn equivalent of today’s buses). People from different parts of society, from the old country woman with her piles of baggage to the city clerk with his cane, were forced to share a small compartment. Egley painted the carriage in a coachbuilder’s yard and posed models in a makeshift ‘carriage’ made from boxes and planks in his back garden in Paddington. The <span>Illustrated London News</span> said ‘the stern and trying incidents’ would be ‘recognized by thousands of weary wayfarers through the streets of London.’</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2018</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
29 August 2001 – 25 July 2005
2005-07-25
29 August 2001
2001-08-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-08-29
Art and Victorian Society
Collection based display
1 August 2005 – 2 March 2008
2008-03-02
1 August 2007
2007-08-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-08-01
Victorian Paintings of Modern Life
Collection based display
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
2012-11-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-05
Gallery 9
Collection based display
7 August 2014 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
7 August 2014
2014-08-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-08-07
Gallery 9
Collection based display
10 October 2014 – 1 November 2015
2015-11-01
10 October 2014 – 1 November 2015
2015-11-01
2014-10-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-10-10
Poor Man's Picture Gallery
Collection based display
Omnibus Life in London
support: 448 × 419 mm
frame: 620 × 597 × 56 mm
Bequeathed by Miss J.L.R. Blaker 1947
<p>The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of modern-life subjects was popularised during the 1850s by such artists as William Frith (1819-1909). Artists deliberately chose subjects such as racetracks, seaside resorts and busy streets where all classes of society could be represented in the one picture. Following this trend, Egley exhibited <i>Omnibus Life in London</i> at the British Institution in 1859. He may have been inspired by the French artist Honoré Daumier's pictures of the cramped interior of railway carriages, but comparisons can also be drawn with such works as Charles Rossiter's <i>To Brighton and Back for 3s 6d</i> (Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery), painted in the same year as Egley's picture.

</p><p>The omnibus - a horse-drawn carriage that picked up and deposited people along an established route - was introduced into London on 4 July 1829 and quickly became a popular mode of transport.  One observer commented that, 'Among the middle classes of London the omnibus stands immediately after air, tea, and flannel, in the list of the necessaries of lifethe Londoner cannot get on without it.' (M.E. Purgini in <i>Victorian Days and Ways</i>, London 1936). To achieve as authentic an effect as possible, Egley painted the interior of the omnibus in a coachbuilder's yard in Paddington.  The view out of the back of the bus is of Westbourne Grove, painted from the chemist's shop at the corner of Hereford Road where Egley lived. He posed the sitters in a makeshift 'carriage' constructed from boxes and planks in his back garden.

</p><p>Egley painted the scene as if glimpsed through a window and attempted to convey the claustrophobic and cramped conditions that the passengers were forced to endure. The subject permitted him to portray every class of society, from an old country woman, perhaps a family servant, with her piles of baggage, to the city clerk with his cane. The old woman stares sympathetically towards the young mother and her children, who avert their gazes, in a gesture of gentility. The mother was modelled on Egley's wife and the ringletted daughter was posed for by a twelve-year old girl, Susannah (Blanche) Rix. 

</p><p>Egley worked on the picture for 44 days and sold it to a man called William Jennings for £52 10s. It was described by the <i>Illustrated London News</i> as follows: 'a droll interior, the stern and trying incidents of which will be recognized by thousands of weary wayfarers through the streets of London.'

</p><p><b>Further Reading:<br/></b>Lionel Lambourne, <i>Victorian Painting</i>, London 1999, p.267, reproduced in colour p.266.<br/>Malcolm Warner, <i>The Victorians - British Painting 1837-1901</i>, National Gallery of Art, Washington 1997, pp.108-9, reproduced in colour pp.26. 

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div><p><span>William Egley conveys the claustrophobia of the inside of an omnibus (a horse-drawn equivalent of today’s buses). People from different parts of society, from the old country woman with her piles of baggage to the city clerk with his cane, share a small compartment. Egley painted the carriage in a coachbuilder’s yard and posed models in a makeshift ‘carriage’ made from boxes and planks in his back garden in Paddington. The Illustrated London News said this scene would be ‘recognised by thousands of weary wayfarers through the streets of London.’</span></p></div>
Online caption
2024-04-22T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults advertising architecture basket box boy bus cane / walking stick children clothing and personal items contemporary society domestic England family fine arts and music flower girl group groups hat hat, bonnet instrument, drum instrument, trumpet lifestyle and culture looking / watching man mother and child objects parasol people places plants and flowers poster reading, writing, printed matter servant sitting social comment society street townscapes / man-made features transport: land UK countries and regions UK London umbrella veil vessels and containers Westbourne, Westbourne Grove widow woman woman, old work and occupations