A cottage interior, York, 1836                

This watercolour is a typical example of the interiors painted by York-born artist Mary Ellen (known as Ellen) Best, 1809-1901. Daughter of a doctor, she showed an early talent for drawing and painting. With her sister Rosamund she was sent to a boarding school in Doncaster in her early teens. The school on South Parade was run by Ann Haugh who was married to drawing master George Haugh, a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy. The teaching of drawing and painting was emphasised at the school, Haugh also inviting portrait and animal painters to give lessons. By the age of fourteen Ellen showed a flair for composition and portraiture. In 1824 Ellen and Rosamund were sent to another boarding school at Bromley run by a Miss Shepherd who became a lifelong friend of the sisters after they returned to York in 1828. Ellen then embarked on a career as a painter, continuing to study works of art in stately homes. In 1830 she was awarded a silver medal for a drawing of a still-life by the organisation that became the Royal Society of Arts. Her social connections saw her receive an increasing number of commissions 

In 1834 she travelled with her mother for a fourteen-month tour of Holland and Prussia, all the while recording her impressions in water colours, especially of interiors and portraits. Some of this work was exhibited at York’s first art exhibition in 1836, her work already having been exhibited in Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle. After her mother’ death in 1837 Ellen was able to resume her travels, leaving in the following year with a companion for a leisurely progress through Holland before travelling on a river steamer to Dusseldorf, Cologne and Frankfurt. Two years later she went on another tour reaching Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden. A whirlwind romance saw her engaged to a schoolmaster and amateur musician Johann Anton Phillip Sarg with a marriage in York on 15 January 1840 before settling in Nuremberg then Frankfurt. Three children followed but Ellen continued her painting and her travelling, for example in Belgium. She gradually gave up painting, her last known work being a still-life in 1860. 

On the mantelshelf of the above cottage interior notice the Toby Jug. One of the possible inspirations for the character some believe was the father of the Rev Paul Parnell, a noted toper according to some newspaper reports, as described in the piece about the Rev Parnell’s family. Toby Jugs were made from the 1760s, perhaps too early for Paul Parnell senior to be the original Toby Philpot character.  

For a comprehensive review of Ellen’s painting see Davidson, C., ‘The world of Mary Ellen Best’, Chatto & Windus, 1985. Image reproduced courtesy of Caroline Davidson.