Background
Rayner was born in Matlock Bath in Derbyshire.
Rayner was born in Matlock Bath in Derbyshire.
Rayner studied painting from the age of fifteen, at first with her father and later with established artist friends of the family such as George Cattermole, Edmund Niemann, David Roberts and Frank Stone. Her first exhibited work, an oil painting entitled The Interior of Haddon Chapel, was shown at the Royal Academy in 1852, the first of a series of oils.
The family lived in Matlock Bath and Derby until 1842 when they moved to London. From 1860, however, her medium was watercolour, which she exhibited for over 50 years through organisations including the Society of Lady Artists, The Royal Academy, Royal Society and the Royal Society of British Artists. She lived in in the county of Cheshire but travelled extensively, painting British scenes, during the summers in the 1870s and 1880s.
Her paintings are very detailed and highly picturesque populated street scenes capturing the "olde worlde" character of British towns and cities in the booming Victorian period.
Her paintings are very popular today as prints and on jigsaw puzzles.