Local Artists
Hertford Museum holds works by notable local artists such as E.A. Brown, Trevor Chamberlain and Cathy Smale. If not on display, these paintings are available to view by appointment.
Hertford Market
Cathy Smale
Oil on canvas 2015
HETFM:2015.45
Cathy Smale is a Hertfordshire artist with a distinctive style, focussed on landscapes, townscapes and birds. This painting was purchased for the museum by the Friends of Hertford Museum and features market stalls in Salisbury Square.
Lock Keeper’s Cottage, Kingsmead
Edward Archibald Brown, ARWS (1867-1935)
Oil on board 1900
HETFM:2402.1
Brown studied at the Royal College of Art in Kensington and in the 1890s, he was appointed Headmaster of the Hertford School of Art. He painted extensively in and around Bengeo and Hertford and could regularly be seen walking the lanes to woods and meadows with his case of artists tools under one arm and his stool under the other. Brown exhibited four pictures at the Royal Academy between 1900 and 1903 but was reluctant to part with his pictures which were “as dear to him as children”. Hertford Museum holds a collection of 34 oils, watercolours and sketches by the artist.
Hertingfordbury
Lionel Horsnell (1932-2011)
Watercolour on paper
HETFM:2012.16.1
Lionel Horsnell was born in Hertford in 1932 and studied at the Harrogate School of Art and Leeds University. He specialized in watercolour landscapes and won several awards including the Havilland De Saumarez award.
Market Day, Hertford 1972
Trevor Chamberlain ROI, RSMA (born 1933)
Oil on canvas 1972
HETFM:3007.1
Trevor Chamberlain, the son of a Hertford painter and decorator, enrolled in painting classes, aged 12, at the Ware Evening Institute. He has been painting professionally since 1964 and is known for his landscapes. Hertford Museum holds nine works by Chamberlain. This one depicts Railway Street, looking west, and the old uncovered market.
Dye’s Dipping Place
Ella Beatrice Ginn (died 1944)
Watercolour on paper
HETFM:1483.1
We know little about Ella Ginn, other than that she lived in Castle Street and she and her sister Gertrude were members of Hertford Art School. Ella won several awards, including The Department of Science and Art (later to become the Royal College of Art) national medal for success in art in 1887. This watercolour depicts Dye’s Dipping Place, at the end of Bircherley Street, so named as the spot where the Dye family of chimney sweeps washed their horses.