Shrimp and his dog on Ringland Hills

In the summer of 1910 Munnings left his home at Swainsthorpe, Norfolk, on a painting expedition to the nearby Ringland Hills. 'In 1910 I think it was, Varnishing Day being over, the usual vexations that followed roused me into action. On my return I planned another, longer and more serious expedition to Ringland. The gorse was in bloom, to hesitate was foolish' (A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Bungay, 1950, p. 212). He purchased a string of ponies from the horse dealer, James Drake, and set up his headquarters at the Falcon Inn in Costessy. With him was, 'Shrimp, that utterly uneducated, wild ageless youth, who slept underneath Drake's caravan. When not wanted, he lay on the dusty ground or grass (each came alike to him), smoked cigarettes, and played with the lesser dogs, lurchers and children' (ibid, p. 211).

The present work depicts Shrimp and his dog relaxing amongst the blazing gorse which Munnings so loved. 'I developed a passion for the gorgeous, blazing yellow of gorse in bloom, and looking back, I am sorrowful to think how little I indulged it and how many springs and summers have slipped away since then.' (ibid, p. 212).

This work will be included in Lorian Peralta-Ramos's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.