Snaffles ‘The Sea-Hawk.’

Dimensions: 54 x 70cm (excluding 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.