Sue Macartney Snape: "After Dinner" Humourous Print

Sue Macartney-Snape is an Australian contemporary artist (b.1957), working in watercolour, who specialises in portraying the quirks of English society. Her work is humorous and beautifully observed. In this piece, the ladies are relaxing after dinner with their coffee and cigarettes in a country house drawing room. They are all dressed up for the occasion - perhaps they have left their men smoking cigars and drinking port in the dining room. It all portrays an upper class life which one imagines has largely departed, but perhaps not! There are lovely details, from the elaborate fireplace to the much indulged dogs (Macartney Snape always includes dogs..) Macartney Snape came to the UK in 1980. She has exhibited in leading London galleries and she has had many commissions including from Glyndebourne and the Metropolitan Opera. John Julius Norwich has said of her that she illustrates the English social scene "more brilliantly and with greater accuracy than any other painter working today". She has made many limited edition prints of her work. This is one such - no.401/750