Alfred Leyman (1856-1933) was an Exeter-born artist whose works covered many aspects of rural life in Devon.

This landscape of Tracey Bridge, Honiton, now on display in the museum, is the only known painting that Leyman produced using oil paints.

He specialised in watercolour landscapes, street scenes and ancient buildings, with the occasional river or coastal scene and he travelled widely in the county in search of suitable subjects. His favourite must have been the Guildhall in Exeter - he painted the building at least seven times.

Alfred was a pupil of Bavarian-born Professor Sir Hubert Von Herkomer who ran the Bushey Art School. Fifteen of Alfred’s paintings were owned by Dr Stirling, who displayed them in an Art Exhibition in Durban, South Africa in 1892 where they were greatly admired.

Leyman often exhibited his paintings at Elands Art Gallery in Exeter. In 1892 three hundred paintings were on display – four of them were Leyman’s. One of them was entitled ‘The Lych Gate, Offwell.’ An art critic described the painting as a “ lovely subject, with exquisite foliage”, and added “The beauty of the real scene is now gone. The County Council, with more consideration for convenience than beauty, having cut the overhanging branches of the trees.”

Layman’s home and studio were at Otterdale, Kings Road, Honiton. Shortly after the property was built in 1896, an overturned lamp caused a fire in his studio which spread rapidly. The Borough Fire Brigade were praised for saving the property but most of Alfred’s collection of valuable paintings, furniture and effects were destroyed. He was only partly insured. Perhaps that explains why he always preferred to pay local tradesmen with a painting instead of cash.

In census returns, Leyman gave his occupation as a landscape painter but he also held the position of Art Master at Allhallows School from 1893 until he died in 1933.

One of Leyman’s former pupils wrote: “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.”