Dioramas by David Catley

Those of you who have visited the Havering Museum recently will probably have seen the excellent and intricate dioramas made by the late David Cately.

These dioramas have kindly been donated to the Havering Museum but as they unfortunately fall outside of our Collections remit we are unable to take them into our collection. We have tried to offer them to other museums with limited success so now, with the permission of the owners we are offering them for sale.

As yet we have not had chance to get a valuation on the dioramas but any serious offers will be considered for individual pieces or the complete set. The photos below are just an example of the many available, some more are on show in the Museum and the rest are available to view by appointment.

Dioramas by David Catley

David Catley was born in Bexleyheath, Kent and came from a family of amateur artists. He won a scholarship when he was sixteen to attend Goldsmiths College where he took courses in fine art and theatrical costume and design. The diploma he won eventually led to jobs at companies including Shepperton Film Studios, ITV, where he began working in 1961, and London Weekend Television where he was senior designer. Programmes he worked no included No Hiding Place and The Gentle Touch.

Many of the models here were created in the 1970s and 1980s for competitions, most of which took place in France. A topic was given and there were various classes of models, such as single and double figures. David won numerous medals for details and the historical research upon which they were based. He made most of his models from scratch though he adapted the people from Napoleonic soldier figures.

All models kindly donated by Eamonn and Marie Franks of Havering, friends of David Catley.