Ethelbert (known to all as Bertie) White was a talented artist in watercolours and learned the old craft of wood engraving to illustrate many books about the English Countryside and the natural world.
He married Elizabeth (known as Betty) who was an accomplished musician and they were sociable and popular Hampstead Bohemians in the inter war years. In the Summer months they would pack up an old horse drawn gypsy caravan and travel the lanes of Southern England, living the simple life, Bertie drawing and painting and Betty playing the lute.
They were pioneer caravanners of the 1920s and 1930s wandering as far as Somerset and it seems the Quantock Hills were a favoured location. A number of Bertie’s paintings and drawings were Quantock scenes, a few more are possibles but all reflect his simple joy in the landscape and his affection for the honest people who inhabited it.
We’re grateful to The Court Gallery in West Quantoxhead, who act for the Ethelbert White Estate, for help with this article.
Watercolour, 11 x 14 inches
https://www.courtgallery.com/artists/337-ethelbert-white/works/
~ Tim Whittingham, FotQ committee