"You should always out-live your critics.'' This was a catch phrase of Sam Morse-Brown, the man dubbed Bermuda's greatest ever painter who passed away on Sunday aged 98.

As cartoonist and friend Peter Woolcock said: "He very nearly achieved his aim.

"In 1991 it was said that he had probably painted more internationally known portraits than any other living artist.'' Mr. Morse-Brown's talent was spotted by General Bernard Montgomery while helping build airfields in Italy in the Second World War.

Mr. Woolcock explains: "Monty saw him doing some drawings of officers and told him to get on a plane and practise his craft.'' Unfortunately this wasn't a passport to civvie street; it was a ticket to the front line.

Huddled in Nissan huts and air raid shelters and under fly-proof canvas in Italy and Africa, he drew Montgomery and Field Marshall Alexander as well as the unsung heroes at the sharp end, including the firemen and women of London's blitz.

"They were wonderful, living, breathing pictures. He went out into the field and drew the men in uniform,'' said Mr. Woolcock. "They were absolutely super pictures of character.'' The artist, who had also risen to the rank of adjutant in his regiment after volunteering early in the war, had no shortage of takers for his talents in post-war Britain.

He painted King Umberto of Italy, Lord Mayor of London Sir John Laurie, Italian surrealist painter Georgio de Chirico, as well as being the first artist to paint Prince Philip where sittings would be disturbed by a youthful Prince Charles.

"If he had stayed in Britain he would have been lionised,'' says Mr.

Woolcock.

Instead he moved to the Caribbean before setting off in his 33-foot sloop with wife Elizabeth and arriving in Bermuda at the beginning of the 1970s where he lived until his death.

Politicians including Sir Edward Richards, Ottiwell Simmons, C.V. (Jim) Woolridge and John Barritt Sr. got the personal Morse-Brown treatment and his paintings adorn the House of Assembly and the Cabinet Office.

"He never painted from photos, always from sittings.'' Those who met him would have remembered his bustling bubbly manner, says Mr.

Woolcock.

He said: "He was a gentleman, with a sonorous voice and a humble attitude. He was always very surprised at the fame he got.'' Animals were a passion and with his wife Elizabeth he set up the Animal Green Cross Search and Rescue organisation.

Mr. Morse-Brown had a book of poetry published and took an interest in the local arts scene where he served a stint as President of the Bermuda Society of Arts.

Local artist Sheilagh Head said: "Sam was sort of my mentor. He was a very generous man and will be sorely missed.'' In the 1990s, his failing eyesight forced Mr. Morse-Brown to quit painting.

Mrs. Head said: "He would probably still be painting today if his sight hadn't failed him. For an artist to lose his sight is a particularly cruel thing.'' Frontline artist: Sam Morse-Brown with another of his Second World War portraits.

Drawing fire: Second World War General Bernard Montgomery was one of Sam Morse-Brown's wartime subjects, featured in his book Artist in Battledress.