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Hadleigh Nub News delves into the life of former Boxford resident, artist Elinor Bellingham-Smith.

Bellingham-Smith was born in Southwark, London on December 28 1906. She was born to parents Guy and Ellen Buxton Bellingham-Smith. She was also the niece of painter Hugh Bellingham-Smith.

Her interest in the arts were sparked from a young age as her father often collected drawings and prints. He even went on to publish a catalog of his collection of Old Master drawings.

Her scope of interest in the arts was not just limited to paintings. She was a proficient ballet dancer and pianist. However, she soon had to quit dancing due to an injury.

Deciding to focus on a career in artworks, she began studying at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1928 to 1931.

After she had finished her studies, she married fellow English painter Rodrigo Moynihan. Their home life was became a hub for writers and artists and, impressively, in 1946 Princess Elizabeth was accompanied by her mother to the house six times to sit for Moynihan for a commissioned portrait.

Works by Bellingham-Smith were first exhibited in 1931 at the London Group. In 1948, she had a solo exhibition at Leicester Galleries and began exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Art. Her artistic focus was on landscapes and still life.

Girls by the River

For the 1951 Festival of Britain, the Arts Council commissioned 60 painters to make large paintings to be displayed at the festival.

M.H. Middleton reviewed the Leicester Galleries exhibition of Bellingham-Smith's paintings in November 1952:

"Miss Bellingham-Smith's wistful, gentle paintings, on the other hand, delicately touched in with sad grey-greens, tug at the heart like memories of childhood. Her little girls have a lyrical elegance, as though Susanne Eisendieck had been crossed with Kate Greenaway. Her unpeopled landscapes evoke the enjoyable melancholy of the return from the Sunday afternoon walk with the dog, when there was rain in the sky and the wind lifted the birds from the meadow like the last leaves from the trees, and one thought of the fire in the nursery and crumpets for tea."

Not long after this period, her marriage to Moynihan started to deteriorate due to their social life and Moynihan's affairs. They separated in 1957 and divorced in 1960.

During their period of separation, Bellingham-Smith moved to Boxford, near Hadleigh, in 1958 where she stayed until her death in 1988.