‘At the Pit-Door’ by Eyre Crowe (1873)
Medium: oil
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1873; Alexander Gallery, London (Victorian Panorama exhibition), 1976
According to Christopher Wood in Victorian Panorama: Paintings of Victorian Life (1976), in which this painting is reproduced, the crowd was queuing to see Miss Bateman in Leah. This would have been a fitting subject for Eyre Crowe to paint, as Kate Bateman married his brother George in 1866, and he followed her theatrical career with great interest. At the time of writing of Wood’s book, the painting was in the ownership of the Harwood Gallery in Leeds. It had been auctioned at Christies on 2 July 1971; and in the A.H. Redman sale at Sotheby’s on 9 March 1974.
Daily Telegraph, 29 March 1873
“At the Pit Door” gives an exciting picture of a rush to be present at Mr. Knowles’s theatre in Manchester when some special star is engaged. It is a wonderful scrimmage, and a gasman of the establishment is assiduously engaged in untangling the knot of humanity and picking up the chignons, bits of bonnet, shawl, and dress, torn off in the excited fray.
The St James’s Magazine, April 1873:
A COUNTRY GIRL’S VISIT TO THE ROYAL ACADEMY
I must not omit to tell you of another very clever and animated picture of Mr. Eyre Crowe, “At the Pit Door” (626). People are struggling and pushing their way into the pit of the opera, and the lady-part of the crowd stand a great chance of being torn to pieces.
Athenaeum, 10 May 1873:
Mr. Crowe’s remaining production, At the Pit Door (626) is his largest. It represents the crush at an entrance of a minor theatre on a night when a new piece is to be performed; in front is a strong barrier with a man on duty to defend it; the space within is strewn with caps, muffs, hats and bonnets, thrown there by playful individuals in the impatient crowd. A youth and his sweetheart have paid their money and triumphantly pass the barrier; others are struggling to get through. These figures present rich opportunities for a humourist: notice the indignant old lady, the riotous lads, the girls who are closely squeezed, the angry and the jocular folks. Each part has been heedfully drawn and painted – figure, face, costume, even the hands and accessories; and the work has that fidelity which is in itself a charm. Its solidity is all the more commendable because by no means common on these walls. Mr. Crowe has hardly succeeded in rendering the effect of gas-light.
The Observer, 11 May 1873
Sir John Gilbert and Mr. Eyre Crowe are both worthy of better things than the confused battle piece, called “Naseby” (643), by the former, and the comic rush “At the Pit Door” (626) by the latter.
Illustrated London News, 17 May 1873:
Far inferior [to Brothers of the Brush] is the rush at ‘The Pit Door’ (626) of a theatre, which is vulgarly farcical; the lighting also is unsatisfactory.
The Times, 26 June 1873:
Mr. Eyre Crowe, who usually sends us some embodiment of literary anecdote, has this year confined himself to bits of contemporary life of the more prosaic kind. If even such subjects as … the rush of a country audience into the pit on the appearance of a favourite star (625), can be made interesting by sincerity and conscientiousness of treatment, what fruit might not be expected from a deeper and tenderer or even more daring grasp of contemporary life?
The Graphic, 28 June 1873
“At the Pit Door” is Mr. Crowe’s most important example, his pictures this year being all on a comparatively limited scale, however. At the entrance of a provincial theatre, on the first night of a new entertainment, an excited crowd is forcing its way to the money-taker’s box. A strong barrier keeps the throng in a narrow defile, and various articles of apparel have, in the pressure and turbulence of the situation, been forced over this border. The work is highly finished, every accessory being treated with the utmost care : yet a surprising sense of life and movement has been preserved. The figures have been made available for humorous purposes, and for the exhibition of great variety of expression. Mr. Crowe has been often employed upon worthier subjects, but he has rarely displayed more completely his command over the resources of his art.
The Era, 20 July 1873
In gallery No. 7, Mr Eyre Crowe (33, Langham-street, Regent’s-street) has a very humorous and effective picture, entitled At the Pit Door, No. 626.
Eyre Crowe (1824-1910) 