S/1989 Dittisham by Alfred Leyman

1856-1933

Watercolour
Signed; titled and inscribed on label on reverse

Watercolour size: 14x21.25 in. (35.5x54 cm.)
Frame size: 22x28.50 in. (56x72.5 cm.)

Alfred Leyman was born in Summerland Street in the parish of St. Sidwell in Exeter, on the 27th. September 1856. The son of John Francis Leyman, a seaman in the Merchant Service.

He moved to Honiton circa 1888, and was an artist of considerable merit. He was Art Master at Allhallows School from 1893-1933, and travelled widely in Devon, in search of suitable subjects for his work. Specialising in landscapes and ancient buildings, with the occasional river or coastal scene. He seldom left Devon, with the exception of a few paintings depicting West Dorset and West Somerset.

One of Leyman's former pupils had this to say about the artist, "he was a smallish man, and a very shy one, I feel now that he had no real teaching ability and that he would have been happier alone with his easel, and away from the gathering of rumbustious boys, painting the Devon countryside that he loved so much'.

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