James Herbert Snell (1862-1935)
James Herbert Snell (1862-1935). Snell was a London-born landscape painter, who was an occasional visitor to the colony and whose work is represented in the St Ives Town Collection. He studied at Heatherleys and in Paris and Amsterdam, and was based for most of his career in London. He was a prolific artist, exhibiting 45 times at the RA, 47 times at the RBA, where he was made a member in 1890, and 118 times at ROI, where he was made a member in 1909. He was elected a member of the St Ives Arts Club on 16th January 1909 but resigned that June. Accordingly, his Academy exhibit of 1909, The Close of a Stormy Day, is probably a St Ives scene. The painting of St Ives Harbour owned by the Town Council probably also dates from this visit, as it shows the harbour beach before the construction of Wharf Road. He appears to have revisited the colony in the early 1920s, as Carbis Bay, Cornwall was hung at the Paris Salon in 1924 - he had won a medal there the year before. His final exhibit at the Salon in 1925 was Dawn. Cornish work is not common in his output, but various paintings of Padstow have come up at auction, which are dated 1933. St Ives Harbour (oil on canvas) is in the collection of the St Ives Town Council