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Lot Essay
The present painting, dated 1909, is an early example of a group of studies of carriage horses that Munnings undertook in the years around 1910. These are largely thought to have been inspired by a formative experience the artist had as a young boy, which he recounted in his autobiography: 'A distinct scene from my earliest days, which for some strange reason remains clear and more unclouded than others, is my Aunt Rosa’s wedding, with grey horses and white rosettes. I see them trotting up to Walsham Hall, the old farmhouse where my grandmother lived… They were, no doubt, quite ordinary greys, but let me cling to my dream of beauty' (Sir Alfred Munnings, An Artist’s Life, Bungay Suffolk, 1950, p. 16).
The artist’s flashy, confident brushwork captures the dynamism of the pair of hitched horses as they canter by, the near horse pulling against his restraints with slight impatience as his liveried rider controls his pace. The energetic brushwork, in addition to the looser handling of the placement of the legs to suggest movement, indicates that Munnings may have been studying this group from life, as was often his practice. The impasto created by the artist’s signature style coupled with the strong sense of movement Munnings has created in the present composition gives the viewer a fresh and immediate sense of the artist’s direct observation.
These studies of carriage horses proved to be an important forerunner to one of Munnings’s most significant compositions – his ‘ten-footer,’ Their Majesties Return from Ascot (fig. 1), which was undertaken by the artist to celebrate his election to the Royal Academy in 1925. The work was executed in parts, with the artist drawing on recollections of the royal processions on the four days of the Ascot races, coupled with studying individual elements of the composition from the life in Windsor Park. It is easy to see the genesis of Munnings’s later composition, particularly in the second group of horses pulling the state landau, within this charming earlier work.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos for confirming the authenticity of this work, which will be included in her forthcoming Sir Alfred Munnings catalogue raisonné.
(fig. 1). Sir Alfred Munnings, Their Majesties' return from Ascot, 1925. Tate Britain, London / © Felix Rosenstiel`s Widow and Son London.
The artist’s flashy, confident brushwork captures the dynamism of the pair of hitched horses as they canter by, the near horse pulling against his restraints with slight impatience as his liveried rider controls his pace. The energetic brushwork, in addition to the looser handling of the placement of the legs to suggest movement, indicates that Munnings may have been studying this group from life, as was often his practice. The impasto created by the artist’s signature style coupled with the strong sense of movement Munnings has created in the present composition gives the viewer a fresh and immediate sense of the artist’s direct observation.
These studies of carriage horses proved to be an important forerunner to one of Munnings’s most significant compositions – his ‘ten-footer,’ Their Majesties Return from Ascot (fig. 1), which was undertaken by the artist to celebrate his election to the Royal Academy in 1925. The work was executed in parts, with the artist drawing on recollections of the royal processions on the four days of the Ascot races, coupled with studying individual elements of the composition from the life in Windsor Park. It is easy to see the genesis of Munnings’s later composition, particularly in the second group of horses pulling the state landau, within this charming earlier work.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos for confirming the authenticity of this work, which will be included in her forthcoming Sir Alfred Munnings catalogue raisonné.
(fig. 1). Sir Alfred Munnings, Their Majesties' return from Ascot, 1925. Tate Britain, London / © Felix Rosenstiel`s Widow and Son London.