Piccadilly Circus at Night

Heath's painting shows the view across Piccadilly Circus, looking from the bottom of Regent Street towards Haymarket. The buildings are, from left to right, the London Pavilion, Sir Alfred Gilbert's Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain (topped by the winged figure of Eros) and the Criterion Restaurant and Theatre. The pedestrians’ clothes date from the early-1890s and it is likely that the artist painted the picture soon after the unveiling of Eros in 1893.

Heath has rendered the glare of the electric lights by using distinct patches of strong colour, suggesting the influence of French Post-Impressionist painters, like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Georges Seurat.

The fashionably dressed young woman in the foreground is probably a prostitute. In the late-19th century, prostitution was common in this part of the West End, Leicester Square, in particular, being a focal point for soliciting. In addition, she is walking alone at night in central London, not something respectable women would normally do at this period. The cloaked and top-hatted man following her further enhances the sexual undercurrent of the scene.

Ernest Dudley Heath was the son of Charles Heath, miniature painter to Queen Victoria. Essentially a painter of portraits and everyday scenes, he also illustrated books. He lectured on art at the University of London and on the Principles of Art Teaching at the Royal College of Art. He later became Principal of the Hampstead Garden Suburb School of Arts and Crafts.