Sir Alfred J Munnings (1878-1959)
Born in Mendham, Suffolk, Alfred Munnings was the son of a miller. He was apprenticed to a firm of lithographers from 1893 to 1898 and then studied at the Norwich School of Art in the evenings. Later he went to the Atelier Julien in Paris.
While in Mendham, Munnings painted many scenes of country life, particularly horse fairs and roving Gypsies. It was a visit to Bungay Races that first sparked his interest in racehorses, jockeys in silks, gipsy caravans and all the excitement of the racecourse. He started visiting Cornwall from 1906, and then moved there in 1911. He was an important addition to the Newlyn School of artists. When the First World War broke out, Munnings tried to enlist, but was turned down on account of the blindness in his right eye. He lost sight in it after an accident in 1899. He became an army 'Strapper' at the Remounts Depot, Calcot Park, near Reading and later went to France as an official war artist, attached to the Canadian Cavalry Brigade from early 1918. Cecil Aldin was in charge of the Remount Depot where Munnings was posted, which Aldin fondly remembered encountering this talented artist.
The year 1919 was a major turning-point in all aspects of Munnings’s life; he painted his first racehorse, Poethlyn, the winner of the Grand National, and became an Associate of the Royal Academy. He met Violet McBride, whom he was to marry, and bought Castle House, Dedham, describing it as 'the house of my dreams'. His wife, Violet, a proficient horsewoman, was often his muse as seen above right in My Wife, My Horse, and Myself.
(Right) My Wife, My Horse and Myself. © The Estate of Sir Alfred Munnings' The Artist and his Wife Violet in from of 'the house of my dreams', Castle House, Dedham, Essex
George Stubbs, 1724 - 1806 Whistlejacket, about 1762
©The National Gallery, London
Born in Liverpool, 25th August 1724, Stubbs was a prolific animal painter and engraver, celebrated as the greatest of all horse painters. The son of a leatherworker, he followed in his fathers trade until he was about 16 years old. As an artist he was virtually self-taught, and his life up to his mid-thirties which is poorly documented was spent mainly in the north of England.
Stubb’s understanding of horse anatomy was unsurpassed among British Artists at the time. Between 1756 and 1758, he spent 18 months in the Lincolnshire village of Horkstow dissecting and studying horses. These studies formed the basis of a series of engraved plates, which he published in 1766 as ‘The Anatomy of the Horse’ Following the successful publication of this book he was in great demand for his portraits of horses.
One of the most important British paintings of the eighteenth century, Whistlejacket is probably the most well-known portrait of a horse. It is also widely acknowledged to be George Stubb’s masterpiece. The Arabian chestnut stallion had won a famous victory at York in 1759, but by 1762 had been retired from racing. He belonged to the 2nd Marquees of Rockingham, who commissioned Stubbs to paint a commemorative life-size portrait of his prize horse in 1762, on a scale that was more appropriate for a group portrait or historical painting.
Stubbs excludes any reference to a rider, riding equipment or location, painting the magnificent rearing horse against a neutral background of pale gold. Despite suggestions that a rider was originally planned, Whistlejacket was always meant to be unmounted,. Free from human control, the riderless horse is the embodiment of unrestrained natural energy, a free spirit that prefigures Romanticism’s celebration of nature.
Cecil Aldin (1870-1935) ‘Micky the Irish Wolfhound’
Aldin was one of the best-loved and most prolific book illustrators working during the so-called 'Golden Age of Illustration', which spanned the late 19th and early 20th century. Born in Slough, Aldin was educated at Eastbourne College and Solihull Grammar School, and started his love of drawing from a young age. He later joined the Chelsea Arts Club and held his first exhibition in Paris in 1908, which extended his fame to a wider audience. He illustrated many books and notably, the 1910 edition of Charles Dicken’s ‘The Pickwick Papers’ His much loved book, ‘Sleeping Partners’ was a wonderful sequence of pastel drawings of his dogs, including his Irish wolfhound Micky and Cracker the Bull Terrier.
Married with a young family, they moved to the Henley area where he could pursue his love of hunting and rural life and surrounded himself with his dogs and horses. In 1910 he became the Master of the South Berkshire Hunt
Aldin made a crucial contribution to Great Britain’s war effort. He was appointed as the Remount Purchasing Officer where his job was to purchase as many horses as possible for the war effort. He began by taking his own horses and a large proportion of hunt horses. He often had as many as five hundred horses under his temporary charge. Manpower was in short supply, so Aldin introduced women to help in the remount organisation. Following this successful experiment, women and girls all over the country joined the remount operation for the Great War. In his role at the remount, he encountered the likes of Alfred Munnings and Lionel Edwards that were posted to his depot to assist in preparing the horses for war.
In later life, Aldin spent much of his time on Exmoor and followed the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, whilst always painting and drawing. He eventually retired to the Balearic Islands in the hope that the warmer climate would help with his arthritis and spent many happy years there busy with sketching and drawing with his beloved canines.
©Mary Evans Picture Library
Frederic Whiting (1874-1962) The Morning Ride
Whiting studied at the Royal Academy Schools and, like Sir Alfred Munnings, at the Académie Julian in Paris. He was in demand for his equestrian portraits and sporting pictures of jockeys and hunting figures. Born in Hampstead, this artist was educated at Deal, and St Mark’s College, Chelsea, then studied art at St John’s Wood, the RA Schools and Julian’s in Paris. He became an artist on the Daily Graphic in 1890. He first exhibited at the RA in 1893. He was war artist for The Graphic in China (1900-1901) and again during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).
He exhibited in many galleries and received and Hon. Mention at the Paris Salon 1914, and a silver medal in 1926. He was elected RBA in 1911, ROI in 1915, RI in 1918 and RSW in 1921. He became President of the Artists’ Society in 1919.
Whiting was an excellent portrait painter and painted many portraits of sporting personalities. Some of his equestrian portraits for which he became well known were not unlike those of Munnings in style. He had an excellent feel for air and freedom, movement and sunlight, and beautifully free use of paint. The Year’s Art of the period referred to him as very gifted and spoke of him in the same breath as Munnings.
'The Morning Ride is currently on loan and hangs in the National Horse Racing Museum, as part of the wonderfully curated British Sporting Art Trust redisplay.