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Lot Essay
The present work depicts Lady Munnings out on an informal ride wearing casual, warm clothes; a distinctive powder blue bobble hat, scarf and gloves. Unusually she is seen riding astride, one of only two known paintings in which she is not seen in her formal riding habit and side-saddle. The work is also distinctive being a snow scene, and it is the combination of these elements which appeals to the artist. In a limited colour palette, essentially only two colours - browns in various hues and the pale blue, he captures the cold, bright wintery day, the fluid brushstrokes emphasising the snowy ground and bare trees.
Munnings often used his wife as a model, she was an expert horsewoman who hunted frequently and thought nothing of riding in all weathers. In a poem he describes her passion for riding regardless of weather,
"My wife in the West never takes any rest;
She hunts in the wind and the rain.
Though sodden her vest, so strong is her chest,
She goes out and does it again."
(A.J. Munnings, The Second Burst, Bungay, 1951, p. 87).
In a letter to Mr Miller, a long-time admirer of Winter Morning, Munnings writes fondly of the painting, 'Withypool/Near Mindhead/W. Somerset/Nov.12-43/Dear Mr Miller/I received your long &/enthusiastic letter, for which/many thanks./That picture of 'The Polish rider'/wasn't a 'seller' as they say/although of course its sold/and gone now -/America I'm afraid -/A dealer from America/bought it. I'm glad/you liked that one because/I liked it too and knew it was/one of the few good things/which seldom get done./I wish I had it now - It was/a picture of my wife on a polo pony. A good sort -/She appeared in another picture/in that costume on the ice/'Skating at Flatford' it was/called, and it was purchased by/Aitken, late of the Tate Gallery/long ago for Johannesburg S.A./for £500. This was 36 x 25/the other 30 x 25 and it had/a horse. Whilst the other/had none - only skaters'/This is difficult time to find/pictures to suit or to pack/them./I'm not in a position to sell/as all my frames and furniture/and the rest are stored and the/Army seized my country home/at Dedham -/I have many pictures here/but no frames and one cannot/get a case of any kind/Last month I decided to do/up my house and studio in Chelsea/and get my things, frames, etc/and all that goes with a studio/back again and no sooner/had I settled to repair damage/than these raids begin again/and a bomb fell a few/doors away./Will you still feel like a/painting if the war ends?/I could manage easily then/On the same day I received/another application for a picture and I could sell several but/its the deuce being down here/and with no Hd quarters in/London./Did you say £130 in your/letter - or £30/It looks like the former/Yours sincerely/AJMunnings'.
This work will be included in Lorian Peralta-Ramos's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.
Munnings often used his wife as a model, she was an expert horsewoman who hunted frequently and thought nothing of riding in all weathers. In a poem he describes her passion for riding regardless of weather,
"My wife in the West never takes any rest;
She hunts in the wind and the rain.
Though sodden her vest, so strong is her chest,
She goes out and does it again."
(A.J. Munnings, The Second Burst, Bungay, 1951, p. 87).
In a letter to Mr Miller, a long-time admirer of Winter Morning, Munnings writes fondly of the painting, 'Withypool/Near Mindhead/W. Somerset/Nov.12-43/Dear Mr Miller/I received your long &/enthusiastic letter, for which/many thanks./That picture of 'The Polish rider'/wasn't a 'seller' as they say/although of course its sold/and gone now -/America I'm afraid -/A dealer from America/bought it. I'm glad/you liked that one because/I liked it too and knew it was/one of the few good things/which seldom get done./I wish I had it now - It was/a picture of my wife on a polo pony. A good sort -/She appeared in another picture/in that costume on the ice/'Skating at Flatford' it was/called, and it was purchased by/Aitken, late of the Tate Gallery/long ago for Johannesburg S.A./for £500. This was 36 x 25/the other 30 x 25 and it had/a horse. Whilst the other/had none - only skaters'/This is difficult time to find/pictures to suit or to pack/them./I'm not in a position to sell/as all my frames and furniture/and the rest are stored and the/Army seized my country home/at Dedham -/I have many pictures here/but no frames and one cannot/get a case of any kind/Last month I decided to do/up my house and studio in Chelsea/and get my things, frames, etc/and all that goes with a studio/back again and no sooner/had I settled to repair damage/than these raids begin again/and a bomb fell a few/doors away./Will you still feel like a/painting if the war ends?/I could manage easily then/On the same day I received/another application for a picture and I could sell several but/its the deuce being down here/and with no Hd quarters in/London./Did you say £130 in your/letter - or £30/It looks like the former/Yours sincerely/AJMunnings'.
This work will be included in Lorian Peralta-Ramos's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.