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拍品專文
Sir Alfred Munnings’s association with the Royal Family began after the first World War with commissions from Princess Alice to paint her husband, the Earl of Athlone, and the portrait of The Prince of Wales (later the Duke of Windsor) on ‘Forest Witch,’ painted in 1920. These would elevate Munnings to the equestrian portraitist of choice for the uppermost echelons of British society from that point onward. Munnings’s royal commissions would culminate in The Ascot Procession Crossing Windsor Park, painted in 1925, which was commissioned by Queen Mary. In preparation for this picture, Munnings was granted privileged access to both the Windsor Greys in the Castle Mews and to Windsor Great Park, where he made studies in preparation for the picture.
The present study, painted in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, illustrates the continued access Munnings was granted by the Royal Family throughout the latter part of his career. Here, the artist has taken as his subject the Gold State Coach with the Windsor Greys being hitched by a stable hand. Commissioned in 1760, the coach has been used in the coronation of every British monarch since George IV. The gilded exterior features painted door panels by Giovanni Battista Cipriani and elaborate sculptural decoration including three cherubs on the roof holding the Imperial State Crown, which represent the union of England, Ireland and Scotland, and four tritons at the corners, representing Britain's history as a naval power. The Gold State Coach is pulled by a team of eight Windsor Greys wearing Red Morocco harnesses. Though it was originally driven by a coachman, the eight horses are now postilion-ridden in four pairs. While an ornate and impressive reflection of Britain’s Imperial past, the Gold State Coach is a notoriously uncomfortable mode of transportation, with multiple monarchs declaring it ‘distressing’ and ‘horrible’ to actually ride in.
While a number of studies undertaken by Munnings in preparation for a painting of a Coronation Procession are known, no finished picture seems to have ever been completed by the artist. This suggests that these studies were undertaken in preparation for the coronation of Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, and that plans for the finished painting were scrapped as a result of the abdication. The additions to the canvas are not unusual in studies by Munnings, and it is possible that he studied the coach and the horses in separate sittings, combining them later.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos for confirming the authenticity of this work, which will be included in her forthcoming Tradition and Modernity: The Works of Sir Alfred Munnings, to be published in 2022.
The present study, painted in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, illustrates the continued access Munnings was granted by the Royal Family throughout the latter part of his career. Here, the artist has taken as his subject the Gold State Coach with the Windsor Greys being hitched by a stable hand. Commissioned in 1760, the coach has been used in the coronation of every British monarch since George IV. The gilded exterior features painted door panels by Giovanni Battista Cipriani and elaborate sculptural decoration including three cherubs on the roof holding the Imperial State Crown, which represent the union of England, Ireland and Scotland, and four tritons at the corners, representing Britain's history as a naval power. The Gold State Coach is pulled by a team of eight Windsor Greys wearing Red Morocco harnesses. Though it was originally driven by a coachman, the eight horses are now postilion-ridden in four pairs. While an ornate and impressive reflection of Britain’s Imperial past, the Gold State Coach is a notoriously uncomfortable mode of transportation, with multiple monarchs declaring it ‘distressing’ and ‘horrible’ to actually ride in.
While a number of studies undertaken by Munnings in preparation for a painting of a Coronation Procession are known, no finished picture seems to have ever been completed by the artist. This suggests that these studies were undertaken in preparation for the coronation of Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, and that plans for the finished painting were scrapped as a result of the abdication. The additions to the canvas are not unusual in studies by Munnings, and it is possible that he studied the coach and the horses in separate sittings, combining them later.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos for confirming the authenticity of this work, which will be included in her forthcoming Tradition and Modernity: The Works of Sir Alfred Munnings, to be published in 2022.