Of the many sporting artists whose works adorn the walls of country houses across the UK and Ireland, Charlie Johnson Payne (better known to the world as ‘Snaffles’) is perhaps the one that generations of sportsmen have taken most to their hearts. A soldier, sailor, traveller and a phenomenally talented, self-taught artist, Snaffles’s work is distinctive for its dash of good humour, and the wittily captioned vignettes which typically surround the principle image.

He was born in Warwickshire in 1884; the son of a bootmaker. From an early age, he was fascinated by soldiers and horses. At age 15, he tried to enlist in the army (on the outbreak of the Boer War) and was brusquely told by the recruiting officer to “go back to the nursery”.

He later joined the Royal Artillery, and though his army service was relatively brief, military paintings and prints make up a huge part of the Snaffles oeuvre. His great breakthrough came with the outbreak of World War I, when he was sent to France as an official war artist for The Graphic newspaper.

His first visit to Ireland occurred in 1930, at the invitation of Colonel Kerans from Birr

In the 1920s, racing and hunting resumed where they had left off – although many of the leading lights of the sporting world had been extinguished by the war. Snaffles, by now an acclaimed and successful artist, was at the centre of that world, participating in its rites and recording them with pencil and brush.

His first visit to Ireland occurred in 1930, at the invitation of Colonel Kerans from Birr; an acquaintance from his travels in India. Snaffles’s very first day in the country saw him fulfil a long-held ambition to ride with the County Galway Hunt – the famous ‘Galway Blazers’ who continue to blaze across their stone wall country to this day.

True to form, a painting had begun to take shape in his mind in mid-hunt

A horse had to be found for him at short notice, and Major Waller of East Galway came up trumps with a hard-mouthed, big-jumping point-to-pointer. A wonderful hunt ensued, across the firm old turf and endless limestone walls around Dunsandle. When hounds finally checked, his anxious hosts noted there was no sign of Snaffles.

True to form, a painting had begun to take shape in his mind in mid-hunt. He had pulled his horse up, taken his sketchbook from his pocket, and began to scratch out a rough outline. By the time he was satisfied with his sketch, the last of the mounted field had disappeared and Snaffles found himself tracking the hunt across the country, jumping the walls in cold blood and suffering at least one fall in the process.

His travails were not in vain. The hasty sketch grew into one of his most famous paintings, and a contender for the finest hunting picture ever produced.

Each of the riders streaming across the Galway landscape is an identifiable character

Major Waller’s wife is in the foreground, tackling a wall side-saddle on her chestnut hunter. Mrs Waller was notoriously short-sighted, and the Major is portrayed casting a concerned glance back over his shoulder at his spouse. Each of the riders streaming across the Galway landscape is an identifiable character.

Snaffles himself appears in the left of the composition on his point-to-pointer, lashing down to a wall on too long a stride and clearly headed for disaster. It is a painting to stir the soul of any sportsman, and one that could only have been executed by someone who understood his subject thoroughly. Snaffles took the title from the writings of Edith Somerville: The Biggest Walls in the Country was in it.

When it was published as a print, the title was followed by a smaller caption: And heaven help them as had to be building them up after us...