For This Artist, It’s All About the Horse, of Course M By Leonard Shapiro
adeleine Bunbury admits she’s been “obsessed with horses my whole life,” and it shows. Just one look at her magnificent equine artwork is all that’s necessary to know she’s already an immensely talented artist. Even at the ripe old age of 25. There’s another relevant number to this remarkable story. She’s a native of Mustique, a Caribbean Island with a population of 2,000 where her father is the only physician. She was schooled in England, where she now lives, and said, “My lifelong ambition is ‘Around The World In 80 Horses.’ I want to do 80 different horses, all as life-sized paintings, and then have an exhibition.” Bunbury came to Middleburg for the first time about two years ago to paint a commissioned work for Barb Roux at St. Bride’s Farm in Upperville and stayed for several months, occasionally riding to hounds, as well. “Madeleine captures the soul of her subjects,” Roux said. “Her paintings are remarkable.” Out in the field with Middleburg’s Lee McGettigan, the two struck up a conversation that ended with Bunbury doing a pencil sketch of one of McGettigan’s foals. “She is just an amazing young girl,” McGettigan said. “In the old days, you’d say ‘great class.’ She has that English manner, very gracious and way beyond her years. I fell in love with her. In some respects, there’s plenty of room for her to grow. In other respects, she has a tremendous eye, and she will only get better.” Bunbury’s learning curve began in elementary school. When she handed in her math homework, she often doodled a horse in the margins. “I’ve been obsessed with drawing horses all my life,” she said. “I was a high school dropout and went to Florence for three years to study human portraiture. I realized afterward that horses are so much more beautiful than people.” Bunbury left the Charles Cecil Studio in Florence after three years, moving back to England where she began her life’s work. “A friend would give me a room for the night and I’d do a painting for someone nearby. You could say I’m a traveling artist.” Word of mouth about her art began to spread among England’s considerable horsey set, all the way up to the top echelons of royalty. Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge and Queen Elizabeth’s grandson, often vacations on Mustique. A year ago last March, he commissioned Bunbury to paint the Queen’s 12 broodmares as a birthday present. Why is she so enamored with horses? “Everyone is different,” she said. “They all have different facial expressions, different body shapes. When you look at a herd, they all have a unique look.”
Madeleine likes them life-sized. Bunbury prefers to capture that look up close and personal. For the most part, she eschews painting horses from photographs. Instead, she works in the barn right in front of her discerning eyes. Her paintings are priced from $10,000 for smaller works up to $16,000 for a life-size portrait. “I like doing them life-size,”she said of canvasses 12 feet long by seven feet high. “When I have them in
front of me, there’s just more life to them.” Bunbury returned to England in March and will revisit the Middleburg area in September. When she first arrived, she said, “I didn’t know anything about Middleburg, but I do now. It’s a wonderful place.” To ride, and, of course, to paint horses, and only horses. “It never gets old,” she said. Especially at 25.
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