The Cheffins Fine Sale on 18th September includes the second offering of Huntingdonshire views from the collection of the late Bryan Snow, with 30 lots including his best examples by artists William Fraser Garden and William Watt Milne.
17/09/2024 Fine Art
“These two artists painted in very different styles”, comments Luke Bodalbhai of Cheffins’ Fine Art Department: “William Watt Milne used a vibrant palette, working in a free, impressionist manner highly influenced by the Scottish colourists. William Fraser Garden’s watercolours are highly detailed and realist, capturing minute architectural details and their reflections in water. However, in their varying ways, both artists succeed in bringing historic Huntingdonshire to life.”
St Ives Bridge by William Watt Milne
Bridget Flanagan, author of Artists along the Ouse, 1880-1930, comments on Bryan and his love of collecting: “When I first saw Bryan’s collection of Huntingdonshire paintings, I was stunned. But my initial reaction was not the quantity – which was certainly considerable – but the quality. In particular, the W Fraser Garden watercolours were some of the finest I had seen. As an architect, Bryan had a keen eye for an artist’s skill and a painting’s composition, and so of course he was a great admirer of the talents of W Garden Fraser.
The Old Ferryboat Inn, Holywell by William Fraser Garden
Flanagan continues: "Bryan had collected paintings – watercolours and oils – of the St Ives area for decades. He and his wife Julie were of local families. They were very fond of the countryside and riverside villages of the Hemingfords, Houghton and Holywell, remembering it as an out-of-the way rural area before the 1960s. The vibrant Watt Milne paintings depicted charming, old-fashioned scenes of farming, thatched cottages and country life.
“Bryan acquired an extensive knowledge of Huntingdonshire paintings and their artists. Always alert to a potential addition, he would travel widely to auctions and galleries - but only after researching and scrutinising his quarry.”
The Bryan Snow collection (lots 283-313) will go under the hammer at Cheffins' Fine Sale on Wednesday, 18th September. Please click here to view the full Fine Sale catalogue.