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Lot Essay
Going to the Meet: Captain F.G. Chamberlin and his Sister is one of the most ambitious canvases that Munnings had attempted to this date and certainly one of the largest commissions. Previously, he had painted A Suffolk Horse Fair (1901, Sir Alfred Munnings Art Museum) and The Vagabonds (1902, Private Collection) both of which measured 50 x 80 inches, but neither were commissions, which by their very nature were always more demanding. Although Munnings' style was clearly recognisable at an early stage, there is considerable variation in his paint application in the early years of the 20th Century. This work clearly draws on the conventions of John Charlton and Charles Wellington Furse whilst setting the scene for what became the most important strand of his work in the 1920s. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1907 along with another work dating from 1905 entitled Charlotte's Pony (Private Collection) which showed the influence of Henry Herbert La Thangue, whose densely worked surfaces were intended to convey the flicker of sunlight on foliage. The glistening highlights on the horses in the present work clearly illustrate the fluidity of Munnings' brushwork which became a hallmark of his work.
Munnings had already established a reputation as a painter of hunting scenes, for which he used various grooms. These began in 1902 with a suite of four pictures now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1907 he also undertook Huntsman in Cover (Private Collection) which shows similar long and determined brushstrokes as in the present work and also follows the same compositional construction where the figure and horse dominate the picture plane and thus have a monumentality and importance that is absent from much 19th Century sporting art. Later he abandons this format in favour of presenting his sitters in the context of their property, drawing on the traditions of 18th Century portraiture. Another effective compositional element, again breaking with tradition, giving a sense of spontaneity is the position of the head of the near horse. The hunter stretches his head and neck, probably in an attempt to loosen the tension on the reins. The lowered head mimics the movement of the front leg of the other horse and it also creates an arch from its hind leg, giving a sense of movement to the composition. The evocative setting of Mousehold Heath, which lies to the north east of the city, ties this picture into the great tradition of Norwich School painting and was a location immortalised by the Norwich School artists including John Crome and John Sell Cotman a century earlier.
Captain F.G. Chamberlin was the scion of the eponymous and long established Norwich drapers and manufacturers, Messrs. Chamberlin Sons & Co. He was a member of the Volunteer Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. He fought in the Boer War and at the time this painting was undertaken he was the Sheriff of Norwich in 1907.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry. This work will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.
Munnings had already established a reputation as a painter of hunting scenes, for which he used various grooms. These began in 1902 with a suite of four pictures now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1907 he also undertook Huntsman in Cover (Private Collection) which shows similar long and determined brushstrokes as in the present work and also follows the same compositional construction where the figure and horse dominate the picture plane and thus have a monumentality and importance that is absent from much 19th Century sporting art. Later he abandons this format in favour of presenting his sitters in the context of their property, drawing on the traditions of 18th Century portraiture. Another effective compositional element, again breaking with tradition, giving a sense of spontaneity is the position of the head of the near horse. The hunter stretches his head and neck, probably in an attempt to loosen the tension on the reins. The lowered head mimics the movement of the front leg of the other horse and it also creates an arch from its hind leg, giving a sense of movement to the composition. The evocative setting of Mousehold Heath, which lies to the north east of the city, ties this picture into the great tradition of Norwich School painting and was a location immortalised by the Norwich School artists including John Crome and John Sell Cotman a century earlier.
Captain F.G. Chamberlin was the scion of the eponymous and long established Norwich drapers and manufacturers, Messrs. Chamberlin Sons & Co. He was a member of the Volunteer Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. He fought in the Boer War and at the time this painting was undertaken he was the Sheriff of Norwich in 1907.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry. This work will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.