Sir Alfred James Munnings

British, (1878–1956)

Sir Alfred James Munnings is acclaimed as the greatest equestrian artist of the twentieth century, being recognized specifically for his energetic hunting and sporting scenes. He is equally celebrated for his very personal interpretations of the English landscape and as an exquisite portrait painter. A figurative painter who outwardly rejected Modernism, Munnings’ style and brushstrokes were influenced by Impressionism, using naturalistic colours to depict the English countryside and surrounding areas.

Painted whilst Munnings was living on the south peninsular of England, December Morning, Cornwall depicts a huntsman surrounded by his scampering, eager dogs trotting along the Cornish lanes in the crisp morning sun of a winter’s day. Munnings lived in Cornwall from 1910 to 1914, first at Newlyn and later in the small village of Lamorna, known for its wonderfully scenic cove. Munnings was struck by the beauty of the landscape in Cornwall. It was here that Munnings painted some of his finest landscapes. Concentrating on landscapes of the interior of the Cornish landscape rather than the more popular coast, Munnings continued to paint his favoured subjects of horses and hunting scenes, exploring the motif of a single majestic huntsman.

Munnings work of this period is classified by his desire to depict his subjects in sunlight in a direct, naturalistic way. In his later years his work became more concerned with the mood rather than the narrative, but the charm of Munnings’s early Cornwall paintings is ubiquitous. Over the course of Munnings time in Cornwall, his career was on the rise, evident by his first one-man exhibition at the Leicester Gallery in London in the spring of 1913. Shortly after this, the start of the First World War in 1914 put a decisive end to the ebullient artists’ circle in Cornwall.

Munnings captures the limitless rolling landscape of the area around Zennor in December Morning, Cornwall . The distant sea is visible upon the horizon and the deep, tree-lined valleys are painted in bold blocks of colour, while the horse and rider are lit up in the crisp, bright morning light. An active member of the Western Foxhounds at Zennor, this exquisite painting represents Munnings passion for riding, the hunt and also the beauty of the windswept Cornish landscape.

Celebrated as a great colourist, Munnings preferred painting outdoors in natural light, even on the coldest of days, only later working up his studies in the studio. Painting with a quick technique, Munnings applied his paint in sure, thick strokes achieving a densely textured surface, thus enlivening the scene despite the monochromatic palette of the English countryside. Munnings was the first painter to note that the coat of a living horse reflects the colours of the sky and its surroundings and it was this technique combined with the vigour of Munnings’s rich impasto brushwork that marks him out as the greatest equestrian artist of the twentieth century.

Paul S. Brown