One of the pictures Nigel Purchase best remembered as a boy was a steel plate engraving of East Street, Chichester, from the 1800s. Dedicated to the Duke of Richmond in 1813 this picture was created by Joseph Gilbert; it depicts East Street on Market Day with a cast of local characters going about their business.
Fast forward to 1975 - at this time Nigel was working on a painting based on photographs of his grandfather's wedding. Mervyn Cutten, the then landlord of the Murrel Arms in Barnham, West Sussex, saw this picture and proposed an idea to Nigel. He suggested that Nigel paint a contemporary version of the well-known 1813 Joseph Gilbert painting, and that it be in commemoration of the Queen's Silver Jubilee (Queen Elizabeth II, 1975).
Nigel set about photographing the street and building a new cast of local characters to include in his street scene. A grand total of 100 personalities with local connections were included. The painting became the first in a series of 13 commemorative paintings, all featuring miniature portraits of local personalities. Each painting is a piece of social history, dedicated to a moment in history and capturing the City at that moment in time along with the lives of its people.
His series included portrayals of Chichester's North, South, East and West Streets; Priory Park; St Pancras, The Chichester Festival Theatre; the former Dolphin and Anchor; Westbourne House; the Prebendal School; Goodwood Racecourse; Stansted House in Rowlands Castle and the then Bible Society's head office in Swindon (the only painting outside the Chichester area).