Lucy Kemp-Welch was a well known painter of animals, especially horses, and an etcher. She was born 20 June 1869 in Bournemouth, sister of Edith Kemp-Welch, landscape and portrait painter.
Lucy Kemp-Welch was regarded as the foremost painter of horses of her time, especially of working horses and her work constitutes a record of almost vanished breeds. She is best known for her illustrations for Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.
She studied under Herkomer from 1891 and later took over his school in Bushey, Hertfordshire from 1905–26. She exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1895, the Paris Salon, and the Royal Institute of Painters. She was also a member of the Royal Society of British Artists from 1902–10, and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1917.
Lucy Kemp-Welch was the first President of the Society of Animal Painters, a not inconsiderable achievement for a woman at that time. She ran a famed School of Animal Painting and her work was very much admired by Sir Alfred Munnings. Her works are in many public collections in Britain, including Tate Britain and the Imperial War Museum; and in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
She had a solo exhibition at the Arlington Gallery 1938 and died at Watford 27 November 1958.