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Lot Essay
High Stakes by Hyperion, out of Pennycomequick, won 34 races and over 20,000. During his career, Sir Gordon Richards rode 4,870 winners and is considered to be one of the greatest jockeys in the history of the turf.
Munnings painted many pictures for Lord Astor and this is a sketch for the commission discussed in the artist's autobiography. "Lord Astor wrote asking me to do this last picture, and I said 'No.' At Epsom, his eldest son, Bill said, 'Do paint High Stakes for father. The horse can be sent to you.' I said 'No.' Then the son who rides racing wrote to me and my reply was 'No; I paint no horses for people.' One morning, working in the rubbing stable, I was aware that I must have a racehorse to paint. My brain-cells, werein the shape, make and anatomy of a horse were shelved, had grown dull. On the Heath the next morning I saw Lawson, who used to train Lord Astor's horses at Manton. Talking to him, High Stakes came into mind--a horse that had finished racing... He found the horse already at Newmarket... I toiled on some hard studies of High Stakes, as usual trying to do the impossible. He certainly was a horse--a personality... At the least sound the horse held his head and tail high in the air... The long lines, the subtle shape, the alert, live look of a high-couraged, well-bred horse were beyond me and as I worked I saw in the poise of his head, in his actions, the sire Hyperion that I had painted fifteeen years ago." (A. J. Munnings, The Finish, Bungay, 1952, p. 304-5 and p. 193 for illustrations of several other sketches of High Stakes)
Starting in 1920 with Buchan (The Jockey Club, Newmarket), Munnings painted many horses for Lord Astor including Saucy Sue, Lee Bridge, Short Story, Brooklaw, Traffic Light, Rhodes Scholar and Early School as well as a number of family portraits such as J. J. Astor, M.P., W. W. Astor with the Oxford University Drag Hounds, and Lord Astor at Clivedon. Important patrons of the turf, the Astors, along with the Rothschilds, commisssioned many paintings from Munnings. Unfortunately, most of the Rothschild pictures were destroyed by fire during World War II, leaving the Astor pictures as the only remaining group of Munnings pictures of race horses painted for one family.
After World War II, Munnings painted wonderful starts of horse races, mostly at Newmarket where a rubbing down house had been converted to a studio. Munnings writes, "But to my own profession and purpose--seeing visible beauty; the grouping, the movement--colour, all dependent on the lighting; the sky. Orange satin, cerise-and-white- blue-and-yellow, emerald green--a large field waiting, waiting, regrouping. At each start determined to retain the picture in my mind." (ibid., p. 182)
Our picture is unusual in that it is an actual portrait of a famous horse and specific jockey at the start of a race, in addition to being a wonderful impression of light and movement. Munnings was in his 70s when he painted this start. This is a preliminary sketch for the two larger versions, both in private collections (sale, Christie's New York, 3 December 1997, lot 108 and sale, Christie's New York, 3 December 1998, lot 192).
Munnings painted many pictures for Lord Astor and this is a sketch for the commission discussed in the artist's autobiography. "Lord Astor wrote asking me to do this last picture, and I said 'No.' At Epsom, his eldest son, Bill said, 'Do paint High Stakes for father. The horse can be sent to you.' I said 'No.' Then the son who rides racing wrote to me and my reply was 'No; I paint no horses for people.' One morning, working in the rubbing stable, I was aware that I must have a racehorse to paint. My brain-cells, werein the shape, make and anatomy of a horse were shelved, had grown dull. On the Heath the next morning I saw Lawson, who used to train Lord Astor's horses at Manton. Talking to him, High Stakes came into mind--a horse that had finished racing... He found the horse already at Newmarket... I toiled on some hard studies of High Stakes, as usual trying to do the impossible. He certainly was a horse--a personality... At the least sound the horse held his head and tail high in the air... The long lines, the subtle shape, the alert, live look of a high-couraged, well-bred horse were beyond me and as I worked I saw in the poise of his head, in his actions, the sire Hyperion that I had painted fifteeen years ago." (A. J. Munnings, The Finish, Bungay, 1952, p. 304-5 and p. 193 for illustrations of several other sketches of High Stakes)
Starting in 1920 with Buchan (The Jockey Club, Newmarket), Munnings painted many horses for Lord Astor including Saucy Sue, Lee Bridge, Short Story, Brooklaw, Traffic Light, Rhodes Scholar and Early School as well as a number of family portraits such as J. J. Astor, M.P., W. W. Astor with the Oxford University Drag Hounds, and Lord Astor at Clivedon. Important patrons of the turf, the Astors, along with the Rothschilds, commisssioned many paintings from Munnings. Unfortunately, most of the Rothschild pictures were destroyed by fire during World War II, leaving the Astor pictures as the only remaining group of Munnings pictures of race horses painted for one family.
After World War II, Munnings painted wonderful starts of horse races, mostly at Newmarket where a rubbing down house had been converted to a studio. Munnings writes, "But to my own profession and purpose--seeing visible beauty; the grouping, the movement--colour, all dependent on the lighting; the sky. Orange satin, cerise-and-white- blue-and-yellow, emerald green--a large field waiting, waiting, regrouping. At each start determined to retain the picture in my mind." (ibid., p. 182)
Our picture is unusual in that it is an actual portrait of a famous horse and specific jockey at the start of a race, in addition to being a wonderful impression of light and movement. Munnings was in his 70s when he painted this start. This is a preliminary sketch for the two larger versions, both in private collections (sale, Christie's New York, 3 December 1997, lot 108 and sale, Christie's New York, 3 December 1998, lot 192).