Staff writer Ralph Berrier Jr. provides this portrait of Fincastle artist Harold Little, who passed away Tuesday.

Fincastle artist Harold Little enjoyed “an elegant life”
Harold Little died early Tuesday after a stroke. He was 70.
By Ralph Berrier Jr.

The Roanoke Times | File. Along with being a visual artist, Harold Little also played the guitar and banjo.

Harold Little, a Fincastle artist whose etchings and paintings were exhibited and collected worldwide, died early Tuesday after having a stroke. He was 70.

The stroke happened Monday morning, which was his and wife Harriet’s 47th wedding anniversary.

An artist, musician and lover of fine food and drink, Little and his wife made a life’s work of art and entertaining friends at their historical home in downtown Fincastle.

“Harold was outgoing, kind, extremely funny and clever,” Harriet Little said. “That’s why I am having such a hard time with this. He had so much left to do.”

Longtime friend and Roanoke art collector Dorsey Taylor called Little’s death “a hard blow to the art world. He was a treasure.”

Other than teaching high school English for a while, Little spent his working life as an artist after returning from Florence, Italy, where he and Harriet lived in the 1960s. He gained attention for his detailed etchings and prints he made on an Italian etching press he bought in 1971.

Inspired by the etchings and lithographs of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Little made prints of many rural Virginia settings and cityscapes. His series of Roanoke City Market etchings were among his most popular works. Later, he turned to oils and painted seascapes and woodsy scenes in a style that evoked pointillism. He became one of the Roanoke Valley’s best-known painters.

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