Figures with Umbrella, London c.1915 is a quintessential Mclntyre streetscape. While the brush work is fluid, the composition is refined and stylised, and a delicate precision lends Figures with Umbrella, London a quiet confidence.

Like many successful painters of his age, Raymond Mclntyre left New Zealand as a young adult and made Europe his home. From 1909 to his death in 1933 he lived in London, where he was actively engaged with the contemporary trends in European Art which he had found inaccessible from New Zealand. In London he began a period of intensive study and painting and exhibited frequently over the next decade, particularly at the Goupil Gallery Salon, London's leading international gallery at the time. His work was accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts in 1924 and he ceased to exhibit his work publicly in 1926.

The two figures in the foreground are constructed in careful greys and although they are the subject of this work, McIntyre's primary concern is in the design and formal relationship within the image. Subtle tonal contrasts and exquisite brushwork create a deeply elegant work.