Snaffles - Finest View in Europe original (2)

Snaffles - Finest View in Europe original (1)

Snaffles - Finest View in Europe original (4)

Snaffles - Finest View in Europe original (3)

Snaffles - Finest View in Europe original (5)

Snaffles ‘The Finest View In Europe’

Charlie Johnson Payne, Snaffles (British, 1884-1967)

‘The Finest View In Europe’, signed ‘Snaffles’ and inscribed ‘A Tally-ho-back to old days Mac’ in pencil to lower right of the image, titled in pencil to the mount, pencil and watercolour, in an original moulded beech frame.

Provenance: Commissioned directly from the artist by Colonel Alfred Herbert MacIlwaine M.C. D.S.O. (1889-1983) a friend of the artist; Thence by descent.

MacIlwaine was educated at Clifton College near Bristol, and played rugby for United Services, Yorkshire and England. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery and served in France during the First World War from 1914 to 1915, then Mesopotamia where he was mentioned in Despatches, awarded the Military Cross and ultimately a D.S.O. After the war he moved to Rhodesia. During the Second World War, he commanded the Rhodesia Light Battalion and subsequently settled in the Nyanga Mountains, establishing a hotel by the name of Troutbeck.

By repute, MacIlwaine had an earlier version of ‘The Finest View In Europe’ by the artist which was destroyed by fire, he later persuaded the artist to paint him this watercolour as a replacement.

Inscribed in pencil to back board ‘An original by Snaffles. The property of Major A H MacIlwaine, Apl 1956’.

SKU: MJSA0006 Category: Snaffles

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Dimensions: 19 x 42.5cm (excluding mount and frame), 36.5 x 59cm (overall, including frame)

Our Snaffles works are also available through our Selling Antiques page.

Footnote

Snaffles was born Charlie Johnson Payne in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire into a family of eight children. Although little is known of his early life, his interest in horses and soldiers began when he was quite young and was to stay with him forever; it is this interest that inspired him to become one of Britain’s favourite military and sporting artists.

Success came in the 1920s and 30s, after a slow and difficult early start. Snaffles married his wife Lucy in 1915, and much of his commercial success must be attributed to her financial management of his work. He travelled to France during the First World War and worked as a freelance journalistic artist, his sketches were illustrated in ‘The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News’, and after the war his work continued to appear in this publication. Many of his images, particularly military, were inspired by his lifelong friend, Major Taffy Walwyn.

With Lucy and Walwyn, Snaffles travelled India in 1927 and again in 1934/35, and drew upon his experiences there to produce his polo and pig-sticking images. His travels to Ireland bought forth a wealth of images featuring point-to-point scenes, and his regular visits to Aintree to watch the Grand National inspired racing images.

But for most it is hunting for which Snaffles is best remembered. The humorous and often cartoon-like images that span almost his whole life encapsulate the colour and excitement of the sport, and the indignities that the rider often has to suffer during the thrill of the chase!

Snaffles, Charlie Johnson Payne, died in 1967, leaving behind him a fine record of sporting, racing and military life spanning the two World Wars. These images are enjoyed and collected as enthusiastically today as they were when they were originally produced.