St Mark's Church, Battersea Rise

Watercolour painting by G.M. Downes depicting St Mark's Church, Battersea Rise. 1910(c)

This watercolour depicts a scene in a quiet street, where a church rises at the centre. The building is constructed from warm-toned brick with a steeply pitched roof, clad in reddish-brown tiles, slopes gently toward the rear, where the addition of a less taller chapel or portico is obscured by the trees. The church has a square wooden bell tower and spire with a weather bane at its peak, all coloured in dark greenish tones.

Encircling the church is a low wooden fence enclosing the church grounds where greenery flourishes. Trees flank the building.

In the foreground a male figure stands near a streetlamp, dressed in brown and carrying a basket, accompanied by a dog. Another figure, dressed in a long black garment, walks along the fence line.

Beyond the church grounds , faint silhouettes of distant rooftops and spires punctuate the horizon.

The church represented in the watercolour is, as the title mentions, St Mark's at Battersea Rise. The church was built between 1872 and 1874 by William White, in a 13th Century Gothic style. It became a listed building on the 28th June 1954 and currently is Grade 2* listed.