Snow scene depicts Valley area in the 1950s

This beautiful and rather festive image shows the Valley in Scarborough deep in crisp white snow. It was painted in 1955 by Eric Rimmington, an artist with strong Scarborough connections – he taught fine art here in his middle years.

Local readers will recognise The Crescent, looking much as it does today, with, bang in the middle, Scarborough Art Gallery and on the far left, the corner of Woodend ( just out of view) – two of the three venues run by Scarborough Museums and Galleries.

To the right of the gallery is Londesborough Lodge, and just behind it, the pyramidal towers of the old Rowntree’s department store, demolished in the 1980s and replaced by the Brunswick Pavilion.

At the far right is the square tower of Christ Church, which stood at the top of Vernon Road where Iceland is now, also demolished in the 1980s.

This painting is rather different in style to Rimmington’s usual work

– he’s best known for meticulous, almost hyperreal portraits of everyday objects such as a lump of coal, a tin can or a box of matches – you can find some of them on the excellent website at Artuk.org

Rimmington was described by one art critic as ‘both one of the country’s most distinguished exponents in the field of still life, and one of the most particular and distinctive’.

Born in 1926, he began his artistic career in 1948, painting a large mural at Trafalgar House in his hometown Portsmouth. This sensitive and humourous depiction of post-war life in the town led to the building being listed by English Heritage.

In the 1950s he exhibited regularly in Yorkshire and the Midlands while teaching fine art at Scarborough, Bradford, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

In the early 1980s, after a sabbatical in the States, he moved to London to pursue his studio work full-time and began the work for which he’s best known – portraits of things ‘within hands’ reach’ – everyday domestic objects like egg cups and fruit.

His work is much admired today – one of his keenest collectors is chef Raymond Blanc, who used one of Rimmington’s paintings as the inspiration for the décor in his two Michelin-starred La Grande Salle restaurant at his luxurious hotel Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.

He is represented in many other private collections in Europe, North America, Australia and the Far East; in public galleries in Bradford, Reading and, of course, Scarborough; and in the Museum of London, Imperial War Museum, University of Wisconsin and the Gulbenkian Foundation.

Scarborough Museums and Galleries runs the Rotunda, Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend. Scarborough Museums and Galleries is also a member of the Museums Association and adheres to its code of ethics.

Merry Christmas to you all from all of us at Scarborough Museums and Galleries!