North Herts Museum has snapped up a famous oil painting.

The museum in Hitchin has announced the successful purchase of an oil painting by renowned artist William Ratcliffe (1870 – 1955).

The painting, The Red Curtain, shows the corner of a sitting room in a house on Wilbury Road, Letchworth Garden City, around 1916.

North Herts Museum has the major collection of Ratcliffe paintings in the country and staff were thrilled to be able to buy this picture at auction in London, as Ratcliffe oils are rare.

Councillor Keith Hoskins, NHDC's Executive Member for Enterprise and Cooperative Development said: "The museum received extremely generous grant-aid to enable it to purchase this painting, so that the district council only needed to contribute under £300.

"I would like to congratulate the museum team for successfully applying for these grants, as without them it would have been impossible for the museum to have bought the painting at auction.

"NHDC is extremely grateful to the funders."

The purchase was made possible thanks to exceptionally generous grant-aid from the Hertfordshire Heritage Fund, the Arts Council England, the V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Art Fund.

The acclaimed work is intended to be on display in the museum's Terrace Gallery. A later version of the painting belongs to Tate Britain, called The Artist's Room, and dates from the early 1930s.

The paintings details attractive arts and crafts interior features oriental rugs on the wooden floor, a high-backed chair and an oak table which appears in other Ratcliffe paintings.

William Ratcliffe lived in Letchworth on and off throughout his life, and often stayed in this house, which belonged to his friend Stanley Parker, brother of Barry Parker, one of the town's original architects.