Geoffrey Houghton Brown was a mural painter in the 1920s and 1930s who once shared a studio with Rex Whistler. This is one of thirteen designs [E.415-427-1987] for mural decoration in the Blue Train Restaurant, Stratton Street, London. This fashionable restaurant was owned by an Italian named Savrani. Through the agency of the Marchese Malacreda, a noted contemporary decorator, he commissioned Geoffrey Houghton Brown to provide and execute murals on the theme of travel. The artist, with a team of three Chinese assistants, who doubled as theatrical scene painters, painted the murals in oil and turpentine directly onto the white-painted walls. The theme was the Blue Train which ran to the South of France. The large drawings relate to the scene in the bar area, which was known as the Merry-go-round. The site became Langan's Brasserie; all decorations have disappeared.