Sir Alfred James Munnings, PRA, RWS British, 1878-1959
28.2 x 32 in (71.5 x 81.5 cm) framed
Provenance
James D. Connell, by 1928;
Private collection, England, 1970s.
Exhibitions
Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum, Loan Collection of Pictures Illustrating the Work of A.J. Munnings, R.A., August to September, 1928, no. 114.
During the First World War, Munnings worked for the Remounts at Calcot Park, preparing horses for deployment to the front. Cecil Aldin, a friend and fellow artist, was in charge of the Depot and found Munnings the position. He described the environment in the first volume of his autobiography, An Artist's Life: 'I was placed in a village near the Bath Road, close to Calcot Park. Every barn was used and hung with poles or bales, separating the horses where they stood in rows. Calcot Park itself was full of Canadian Artillery horses at grass. From then on I lived amongst thousands of horses' (p. 300). It is likely that this painting was either no. 13 (In Calcot Park) or no. 15 (June Afternoon Calcot Park) exhibited in 1919 at James Connell & Sons, London, Exhibition of Paintings by A.J. Munnings.