(Please click on any of the thumbnails displayed in the panel on the left to see a postcard size reproduction of the painting)

Born in Kensington in London in 1873, into a family of artists, Louie Luker studied art in Bushey, in Hertfordshire, under Hubert von Herkomer from 1900-1903, leaving with a splendid testimony from Herkomer and a promising career as a portrait painter before her. But, in 1904, swayed by strong maternal desires, she went to South Africa where many British ex-servicemen had stayed on after the Boer War to establish businesses in farming and mining. She supported herself painting portraits until she met and married Philip Burrell.

She returned to England for the birth of her daughter, Philippa, in 1908 and two weeks later her husband died in Durban before leaving Africa to join her. Then, engaging a nurse for the baby, she returned to her work and became the leading London portrait miniaturist, painting many members of the royal family.

In 1912 her health broke down and, with the child, she went to Canada for the dry climate and a rest.

Regaining her health, she painted the grand rough diamond rulers of the dominion and when the Governor-General the Duke of Connaught, commissioned portraits of himself and his daughter, Princess Patricia, her position as a fashionable artist was established.

When the Great War broke out in 1914 and the commissions stopped, she suffered great hardship before travelling down to California where she painted Charlie Chaplin, other Hollywood film stars and the Los Angeles millionaires - and waited for it to end.

Returning, in 1919, to an England shattered by the war and dead to all art work, she let lodgings and became a cook.

In 1923, when the country was recovering, struggling to participate, she sat in a shop window painting quick portraits and among the gaping crowd outside was Mrs Stanley Baldwin, who became her patron.

She went to India, in 1928, where she painted the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, the CinC, Field Marshall Sir William Birdwood and several Indian princes. When her health broke down again and she lost her painting powers altogether, she spent the rest of her long life supporting her daughter's fresh struggles as a writer and died, in 1971, in poverty and disappointment - virtually unknown.

'She was one of the very great water-colourists and portraitists of her time - of all time. The equal of the greatest of the miniaturists of the last 400 years. The last of a great line'.
The late Jim Murrell. World authority & conservator of Miniatures at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Her life is recorded in Philippa Burrell's autobiographical trilogy - The Golden Thread. The Horses & the Charioteer. The Dance of the Opposites.
Obtainable from Hull University & some shops & public libraries.

Please click here to read "The End of Louie's Story".

Location of Paintings Please note that the © also denotes the location of a painting. ATTENTION Museums and private individuals in South Africa, Canada, England (or anywhere else in the world) owning miniatures, watercolours, drawings or oil paintings by Louie (Luker) Burrell (often unsigned) are requested to contact Philippa Burrell. Contact details can be found here.