The Bayswater Omnibus

The early omnibus was a horse-drawn carriage that plied a set route, picking up and dropping off passengers as it went.

Passengers could sit on benches to either side inside, entering via a door at the rear, or climb up to exposed seats on the roof.

A driver would ride at the front of the carriage, with a conductor taking fares and assisting passengers to climb aboard and depart.

The scene is painted as if viewed by a person on one bench inside the omnibus, looking across at passengers on the other side of the carriage.

The painting depicts, from left to right, a relatively poor mother accompanied by a young girl (modelled by the artist's wife and daughter) and carrying a baby; the central figure is a fashionably well-dressed young woman, with a long-handled parasol and basket of flowers; she sits beside a city gentleman in top hat and frock coat reading his newspaper; and then closer to the door are two more women: a nurse seated in her starched uniform, and a milliner boarding the bus, holding a handrail with one hand and clasping a hatbox with the other.