A portrait of Mary Virginia Haigh as a
young child is also well done. It rests on a very tine grained canvas
with a tight gray background. The canvas is unstretched behind glass in
an oval gilded frame. Her skin tones are very light with subtle
coloring in her cheeks. Her hair is a soft, light brown, not quite
blond. A light blue hair ribbon lies across the top of her head, with
one loose lock coming down across her forehead with a wave curling to
her right and a delicate shadow coming down across her forehead, Her
blue eyes are delicately shaded with her lower lids shaded below. Her
lace collar fits up around her neck with a gold chain and a portion of
a medallion showing above a double lace flounce over a delicate white
bodice and upper sleeves. This little girl died at the age of 12 as a
result of a swing accident. It is not known whether or not this was a
posthumous commission.
Another landscape on a tributary
of Big Creek, in Northwest Jefferson County has a small stream spilling
over three ledges of rock extending right in the center of the picture
and forming a small pool that angles left at that center point. The eye
is led back from the waterfall to another small falls that emanates
between two large boulders. The eye is led upward over the trees in
back of the creek to a cerulean blue sky with pinkish white clouds
floating there. To the left of the creek the banks slope up to the base
of a large beech tree that slopes right toward the stream with long
branches flowing out toward and over the center of the stream. A
straight beech tree trunk sits near the base of the leaning tree. There
is a highlight at the base of this tree that shows two white flowering
heads in a clump of weeds. There is bare rock showing on either side of
the pool of water with some bare bank sloping upward that has green
foliage, moss or grass hanging down over it. On the right side of the
stream another large boulder is under the bushes with three tree trunks
rising to the top of the picture. There are two small stones in the
pool about halfway to the waterfall. Unlike most of Mr. Snyder's work
in which he leads the eye back into the picture, this one stops you
with a large boulder. It is such a serene restful picture.
Another painting capture's a
wonderful summer scene with two large beech trees in the left and right
foregrounds with heavy shade under them. Their mottled trunks, heavy
with lichen, are completely dominating and highlighted from the right
with fallen branches through which weeds are sprouting. One spot in the
foreground is highlighted and has five pink wild flowers in it.
A tiny house is back in the
distant centerground surrounded by trees. The tiny house has two pink
chimneys. A shady spot from the right large tree has a row of red and
white flowers in front of the shadow.
A wonderful picture done in New
Hampshire features a pond with waterlines all across the bottom third
of the picture. A large tree in the center extends into the sly filled
with fleecy white clouds. In front of the big tree is a bed of cattails
with myriad bloom heads. A cleft between some of the plants leaves a
dark area that frames one white waterlily flower to draw your eye back
into the area where waterlilies circle the cattails. Bushes are behind
the cattails, deepening in color as they approach the water in front of
the big tree. There is a meadow across the right center of the picture
with seven cows so perfectly done that a reading glass uncovers the
underbelly shadows and their perfection. A red bull is standing with
his legs hidden in the bulrushes which follows two areas at the right
edge of the pond. One nearest has no bloom heads. One large rock, and a
smaller one to the right stand above the water and the signature W.M.
Snyder is rendered in red. Across the pond, a hill slopes up to a house
and a cleared area, There is a barefaced mountain to the right of the
house with an area of pastureland. Many treetops are well delineated on
the hill leading up from the pond. The mountain range extends to the
right of the big tree. Other trees would indicate a valley behind the
cattle with another big tree at the right edge of the middle ground.
This scene is so wonderfully photographically done, and shows such
great attention to color, even to variations in the lily pads. A clever
use of a break in the trees on the right side leads your eye back to
the mountains fading away to the right. The big tree in the center is
masterfully done. This picture is 17" X 33" and rests in a handsome
gold frame. Mr. Snyder chose wonderful frames for his pictures, as if
he knew the value of his work and wanted it enhanced by framing of like
value.
A precious winter scene 9"X12" is
beautifully detailed, leading your eye up a stream to a tiny house with
two red chimneys and two windows, with another building extending to
the left behind the house behind some large trees. In the left
foreground, a large stump reveals a flowerpot extending into the water
of the stream that would seem to flow out the bottom of the center of
the picture. Across the center of the stream is a waterfall with small
bushes on the left end breaking the open expanse back to the house. A
large fallen tree branch extends across the front of a large tree and
touches into the water on the left bank of the stream. Twelve large
trees with the light hitting the left side of the trees and smaller
saplings between are left of the house. A large boulder sits at the
right of the big tree and extends into the creek with a smaller one
behind it. There are twelve rocks in the creek with one on the bank on
the right. In the center of the picture to the right of the house are
nine large trees of diminishing sizes. Right of the creek are nine
trees and six bushes with one large tree root covered with snow
extending toward the creel. Signed W. McK. Snyder. I believe that he
found that there was another William Snyder over in the East so he had
to use the W. McK. in his signature. I believe the other Snyder lived
in upper New York State.
| 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 5.5 HTML editor  Link to Homesite web site |
page designed by Don Wood
