A talented student of the Ipswich School of Art and then the Slade in the early 20th century, Squirrell went on to produce a significant body of rural East Anglian views and urban scenes of Norwich and Ipswich.
A painter with a loyal local following, he was honoured with a blue plaque in 2010 outside his childhood home in Ipswich’s Spring Road.
Favourite spot
This 14 x 21in (36.5 x 53.5cm) oil on canvas of Framlingham Castle, right, painted at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, was offered at Holloway’s (20% buyer’s premium) of Banbury in Oxfordshire on September 4.
A known version, the picture had sold in the same rooms once before for a premium-inclusive £1500, while an identical picture took £4000 at Cheffins of Cambridge in 2008.
Framlingham Castle was a favourite painting spot for the industrious Squirrell. He produced many views of the 12th century fortress, mainly in his preferred medium of watercolour.
In fact, he rarely painted in oils, as shown by the relatively small quantity that has appeared on the secondary market. This may well have had a bearing on the eventual price of this work.
Guided at £800-1200, it was pursued by four phone bidders and the internet before it was knocked down at £4200, a new high for the artist at auction according to Art Sales Index.
