Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rayner, Samuel
RAYNER, SAMUEL (fl. 1850), water-colour painter, was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy and other exhibitions, commencing in 1821. He painted interiors of abbeys, churches, and old mansions, in a style closely resembling that of George Cattermole [q. v.] Five of his drawings were engraved for Britton's ‘Cathedral Antiquities,’ and there is a lithotint of his view of the Retainers' Gallery at Knole in S. C. Hall's ‘Baronial Halls of England.’ Rayner was elected an associate of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours in February 1845, but expelled six years later in consequence of a judgment in the court of queen's bench which involved him in a charge of fraud. His name continued to appear in exhibition catalogues until 1872. Rayner had five daughters, who all became professional artists. The eldest, Nancy, painted rustic figures and interiors, and was elected an associate of the Water-Colour Society in February 1850. She died of consumption in 1855.
[Roget's Hist. of the ‘Old Water Colour’ Society; Clayton's English Female Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1893.]