The Story so Far

Somerset & Wood was founded in 2015 near Bath, UK in the beautiful Cotswold market town of Bradford on Avon. Today the Gallery is run by founding owners Ayumi Ellingham and Olivia Nicholls. The Somerset & Wood project grew out of a desire to share our interests in art, history and design, and to champion the sometimes underrated field of British drawings and watercolours. We bring to the project combined professional arts backgrounds, in museums & galleries, art dealership and illustration. After completing a first class MA in English at the University of Cambridge and an MSc in History of Art with distinction at the University of Edinburgh, our Art Historian, Olivia Nicholls, worked for many years at the National Galleries of Scotland, and subsequently as an independent editor and art historian.

"Whilst exclusively online, Somerset & Wood is more than just an online shop; we are part gallery, part archive, part research project."

Our focus is affordable original British works on paper of the 19th and early 20th centuries–principally in watercolour, ink and graphite. Although our stock is antique, our gallery is exclusively online and provides an inclusive contemporary shopping experience, avoiding the often intimidating environment of more traditional galleries.
With over 2,500 artworks in stock, priced from under £50 to over £1,000, Somerset & Wood is a rich storehouse of 19th- and early 20th-century visual culture.
We present our large volume of stock in carefully curated collections, which help provide context and tell the 'story behind the picture'. We believe in offering in-depth research and explanatory information, regardless of price.
Notable artists whose work we have handled include Louis-Philippe Boitard, Frank Brangwyn RA RWS RBA, Conrad H.R. Carelli, Henry Barlow Carter, David Cox OWS, Joshua Cristall POWS, Alice Des Clayes ARCA, Paul Jacob Naftel RWS, William Payne, Nicolas-Martin Petit, Joseph Powell PNWS, Paul Sandby RA, Winifred Sandys, William Turner of Oxford and Richard Westmacott RA.
Notwithstanding this, we recognise that value is as much about authentic personal connection as it is about the machinations of the art world. We have equal interest in researching and bringing lesser-known artists into prominence, in serving collectors of items of local historical interest, and in reuniting family members with their ancestors' lost work.

"Come in for a browse and see for yourself. We hope you will come away with a piece of history, a piece of a story, something that feasts your eyes, pulls at your heartstrings or ignites your imagination."

Our Customers & Clients

We are delighted that our pictures resonate with art lovers worldwide. We welcome a diverse international client base, ranging from public collections, established collectors and dealers to novice art-buyers or those simply searching for something to look good on their wall.

We sell regularly to countries big and small across the globe—from the United States, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia, Brazil, India, China and Japan, to Luxembourg, Iceland, Finland, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Museums

Somerset & Wood sells to museums and galleries throughout the UK. Our clients have included: British Museum; British Library; Historic England Archive; W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust in association with The Wordsworth Trust; Victoria Art Gallery, Bath; Leicestershire County Council Museums; Alnwick Castle, Northumberland; Rozelle House and Maclaurin Galleries, Ayrshire.

Somerset & Wood Images

We welcome requests to reproduce Somerset & Wood images. We have a large image archive of over 25,000 images, recording the artworks that have passed through our hands.

Our images have been reproduced in a number of publications, across various print and digital formats. Recently our images have been reproduced in the following publications:

  • BBC television, Rob & Rylan's Grand Tour (broadcast May 2024)
  • National Portrait Gallery 'Rowney guide' (updated online, 2019)
  • Huw Lewis-Jones, 'Sea Journal' (Thames & Hudson, London 2019)
  • Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 'A Return to the Grand Tour, Microcosmic Jewels from the Collection of Elizabeth Locke' (Richmond VA, 2019)
  • The Scotsman (2018)
  • Victorian Web www.victorianweb.org (2018)

For more information, visit our Image Reproductions page.