Snyder's strict fidelity to his light source is impeccable. His colors are nature perfect.
In approximately 19l2, the Cincinnati Tribune published the following article headed by the single underlined word.
Mr. F. C. Hill, Carrollton, KY, a
centenarian now deceased, supplied Mr. Snyder's Palette given him
during a period of his youth when he could not afford art lessons but
was allowed to monitor the Master at work in his studio.
Mr. Snyder's Palette was as follows.
# 111 the Baldwin Indianapolis, Ind. Booklet.
Sizing 1# glue dissolved in water - 1 gallon.
While hot stir in - 8 ounces of Glycerin.
Give the canvas one coat, and paint with flat color put on with trowel or palette knife.
This information was furnished by Mr. Richard Traut, 2784 Montana Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio, 45211
Some of his best sellers were
apparently local scene depicting Madison, perhaps people migrating out
of Madison, wanting to take some of Madison with them. These include
Hanging Rock, with the three-cornered rocks sticking out of one ledge,
still there after 100 years. Also, The Railroad Cuts, Clifty Falls, the
River Bend from the Hanover College Campus, and the wonderful Beech
woods of the area, particularly on the George Swartz farm where he was
boarded while he painted. Mr. Swartz had kennels where a Mr. John
Gregerson trained fine bird dogs. Mr. Snyder painted some very fine
bird dog portraits, mostly Setters with beautifully done "feathers" in
their legs and tails, usually "on point" at some Quail in the brush or
weeds. One picture was so beautifully framed with a carved dog in the
left-hand lower corner and three quail carved and applied to the
right-hand lower corner. This one brought $5,500.00 at a recent auction
at Newcastle, IN.
(Editor's note)Please remember that my Dad wrote this book in the early 90's so any information as to prices, dates, etc. is good only for that time. The figure of $5500 by the standard of 2007 A.D. is far too low for this fine gentlemen's work.
There were Beech Groves at the
Junction of the old Michigan Road and now 400 N. County Road and also
Neaville's Grove on the old Deputy Pike. northwest of Madison. The
Swartz farm was on Thornton Road North East of Madison, near Canaan,
IN. The Groves are still in existence at Neaville's Grove and the
Swartz Farm, as well as the house and buildings. The original log house
has been covered up with weatherboarding but the big Creek Rock Chimney
is still in use. It is a serene setting. Mr. Snyder apparently paid for
his lodging with pictures, as 15 have recently come to light at the
Estate of Mrs. Genevieve Swartz Vestal, including three small nudes.
Mr. Snyder had a friend, a Mr.
Demaree. who had a livery stable in Madison. Mr. Demaree loved to fish,
and his grandson, James Andy Demaree, tells me that his grandfather
would often take Mr. Snyder out with him to a fishing hole near
Manville, IN to a place we call the Mill Pond on Indian-Kentuck Creek.
In my own collection of paintings, there is a beautiful creek scene
with a man fishing and a Mill building at the end of the pond, which is
about eight miles northeast of Madison. On the left of the picture
large trees border a road coming toward the water's edge, which fills
the lower left edge of the foreground and extends to the right edge of
the picture, The two large trees bear the form of the American Elm.
Along the road, there are trunks of five trees. Lighter-colored bushes
break the shadow cast by the larger trees. To the left of the road is a
large boulder sticking up out of the water as if to be a guide to the
crossing. Behind it on the bank are three other stones with what
appears to be red and white wild flowers. Right of the road is
light-colored grass with Mr. Demaree standing on the edge of the stream
with his reflection reaching across the water toward the artist who is
apparently on the other side of the stream across the bank and out of
the bottom of the picture. The mill is in the right quadrant of the
picture with another large elm over it with hills behind it and a
willow in front of the tree. The Millwheel has water spilling over it.
Right of the mill is a green pasture with trees and bushes lining the
creek bank.
A bright pink cumulous cloud is
over the big tree and is reflected across the water to highlight nine
boulders in the tower right corner of the picture. It is such a quiet
and serene scene.
His "Railroad Cuts" leading up out
of Madison are such a wonderful object of perspective, as all the
crossties proceed up the hill away from the artist. There is a bridge
across the cuts near the top and on beyond the bridge there is a
locomotive with smoke pouring into the sky. At the base of the cuts on
the left side of the picture there is only a long telegraph pole. The
smoke and steam from the train fill the sky above the track and spill
to the right into the cerulean blue sky as clouds. Large ledges of rock
show on the right of the cut with trees on the top and the slope toward
Irish Hollow. Even the gravel along the roadbed is beautifully done.
There is a fence from the lower right corner to the base of the rocks
at the south end of the cuts. The West edge of the cuts extends up out
of the picture.
| Intro page | Snyder 1 | Snyder 2 | Snyder 3 | Snyder 4 | Snyder 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Snyder 6 | Snyder 7 |
 Don Wood |
Created June 30, 1998 and modified on February 7, 2006 using Homesite 4 HTML editor  Link to Homesite web site |
page designed by Don Wood
