"The Varmint Little Lady"

by Snaffles

Goutelette, Open Edition Print

Paper Size: 8 x 11 ins / 21 x 28 cm

In this charming print, a lady riding astride tightens her girth as a fox steals away from a gorse covert. A remarque shows her jumping a dyke as she continues her pursuit, while the memorable accompanying caption reads: The varmint little lady on a wiry little oss. This is one of a number of works depicting Snaffles sojourns in Ireland in the early 1930s, and is believed to have been produced around 1935. These were lively visits, not least his trip of 1930, when he stayed with his friend Colonel Kerans in Birr. The lady pictured here is likely to be Colonel Kerans friend, Mrs Marjorie Waller. Snaffles final visit to Ireland was soured by a disturbing incident: invited to judge a local point-to-point, he found that he had not been concentrating sufficiently when called upon to decide the winner of an extremely close race. After he ruled against the favourite, the crowd soon leapt to the conclusion that Snaffles had placed a bet on the horse he had proclaimed the victor; and only an impromptu rescue by a quick-thinking priest saved him from the fury of the mob. Snaffles left shaken, never to hunt in Ireland again. The curtailment of his time spent in Ireland makes this print part of a small and invaluable set of depictions of Irish hunting in the pre-war years

watermarks do not appear on prints