Willy Sluiter artwork • watercolour • drawing • for sale Horse riding in Hyde Park, London

On one of his many trips abroad, Sluiter here depicts the upper-class in London's Hyde Park, where on Rotten Row during the 'fashionable hours' beautifully dressed men and women on horseback shared the bridleway with the aristocracy and upper-middle class in their expensive carriages. The 'fashionable hour' for riders was in the morning between 8:00 and 12:00. In the afternoon, riders and carriages rode together between 3 and 7 p.m. Everyone had plenty of time to hear the latest gossip, mingle with influential people, and maybe even engage in a discreet flirtation. Then it was time to go home to get dressed for dinner. Rotten Row was built by King William III in the late 17th century for the carriage ride from Whitehall to his residence Kensington Palace. Why such a strange name for this royal path? One of the most popular explanations is that the road was known as the 'Route du Roi' in French and that a corruption of this led to the current name 'Rotten Row'.