Birkbeck film brings hidden history of Victorian art-workman to light
In a small terraced home in Cambridge, the painted walls tell a story of creativity, brilliance and quiet devotion to one man’s extraordinary craft. The house belonged to David Parr, a Victorian working-class decorative painter, whose hand-painted interiors, created over decades, form both a remarkable work of art and a window into a forgotten world.
Thanks to funding from Birkbeck’s Research Innovation Fund (RIF), supported by donations from our valued alumni, Parr’s legacy has been brought to life in The Man Who Painted His House, a 17-minute film co-created by Dr Vicky Mills. Dr Mills, Senior Lecturer in Victorian Literature and Culture at Birkbeck’s School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication, produced the film in collaboration with the Derek Jarman Lab at Birkbeck and the David Parr House.
As a Birkbeck alumna herself, who completed her MA in Victorian Studies in 2003 and her PhD in 2011, Dr Mills says the alumni support has helped advance her research and share untold stories with new audiences. She said: “It would not have been possible to make the film without the support of the RIF. Receiving the funding was a huge boost to the film and has helped me lay the foundations for a wider project. I’m very grateful to Birkbeck alumni for their generous contributions to the fund. The fact that I’m a former student myself made the success of my RIF application especially meaningful.”
David Parr, the subject of the film, worked for Cambridge artistic decorating firm F.R. Leach & Sons. He painted interiors of private houses, municipal buildings and churches, with many jobs commissioned by leading designers such as William Morris. In his spare time, Parr spent 40 years hand-decorating his own home inspired by the ornate Arts and Crafts style. The house remained in the family until 2012 and is now an independent museum.
For Dr Mills, who previously worked at the Museum of the Home, Tate Britain and the Victoria and Albert Museum, the story of David Parr was too rich to ignore. She said: “I was drawn to the creative and intellectual possibilities that the house offers – from thinking about Parr’s story and placing it in a wider historical context, to how his work can inspire artists today.”
It was important for Dr Mills to uncover the hidden histories of Victorian art-workmen. She said: “A neglected figure, the Victorian art-workman often worked as part of a firm supplying skills to leading designers. He was frequently buried at the bottom of a hierarchy. Art-workmen are the unsung heroes of Victorian art and design; we tend to focus on the big names such as William Morris and architect G. F. Bodley, but not the extremely skilled artist workmen or ‘art-workmen’ who completed a lot of the actual work.”
A chance meeting with the David Parr House’s director, Annabelle Campbell, sparked the idea for a creative collaboration with Birkbeck. Made with filmmaker Lily Ford, a founding member of the Derek Jarman Lab, The Man Who Painted His House combines observational footage, time-lapse sequences, archival material and an original musical score composed by Richard Uttley to immerse viewers in Parr’s world.
The passage of time is a key theme throughout film. As Dr Mills notes: “The house is so fascinating in the way that is makes us think about time, and layers of time – it contains Parr’s possessions and, of course, his stunning decorative work from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it also contains some of the possessions of Elsie Palmer, Parr’s granddaughter, who moved into the house to be a companion for Parr’s widow, Mary, after his death in 1927. Elsie’s presence is very felt in the house where she lived until 2012, but this presence hasn’t in any way erased the presence of her grandfather. Elsie is a very important figure in this story – if she hadn’t preserved the interiors of the house, they would not be there for us to enjoy and learn from today.”
Film highlights include the moment Parr’s signature, hidden high on the west wall of All Saint’s Church in Cambridge, which he helped to paint in the early 1870s, is revealed using a drone-mounted torch. The film also captures Parr’s toolbox, hidden in a cupboard under the stairs, complete with an empty box of pills for back pain – an insight into his hard work. There are scenes with his diary entries, in which he recorded his work on the house including hours, materials and paints. The diary extracts were recorded by Terry Drake, a local sign painter, who is married to Elsie’s daughter Rosemary.
The film has already captivated audiences at sold-out screenings, including at Birkbeck Arts Week, the Cambridge Festival of Ideas and a special showing at All Saints Church in Cambridge, where the score was performed live. “The church was packed and the response to the film was overwhelming. Each of the screenings included a panel discussion and Q&A; it was very rewarding to see how engaged the audiences were with the film, and with Parr and his story, and very interesting to see how different audiences responded by asking a variety of questions,” Dr Mills said. Additional screenings are planned at the William Morris Gallery and with the Morris Society later in 2025, with associated events run by the Birkbeck Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, which Dr. Mills co-directs.
The Man Who Painted His House is part of Dr Mill’s broader research project Art, Labour and Devotion: Uncovering the Victorian Art-Workman, initially funded by a British Academy small grant. The project is expanding Dr Mills’ work to uncover more of the lost histories of craftspeople like Parr, while focusing on the religious and political contexts of their work.