Equine Art coming up for auction
We are pleased to offer an important selection of early 20th century equine art, to include a significant work by Alfred Munnings, and a collection of paintings by Glasgow Boys-linked artists and friends George Denholm Armour and Joseph Crawhall III.
The horse has played an intrinsic part in human history, including use in agriculture, transportation, war and sport. Little wonder they have found a significant role in our art forms, ranging from stone age cave paintings in Lascaux and the prehistoric Uffington horse hill carving, to the legendary Trojan horse, Chinese Tang figures, medieval battle scenes, and Leonardo da Vinci’s unfinished commission to build the largest bronze equestrian sculpture in the world.
In the UK however, horses really found their place in paintings. George Stubbs arguably revolutionised the genre with his focus on anatomical realism, while the British class system portrayed the ownership of horses as social status, and the popularity of horse-racing and fox-hunting created a whole range of sporting art featuring horses.
Our 27th May Country Pursuits auction includes this tempera study by Sir Alfred James Munnings, PRA, RWS (British, 1878-1959) titled ‘Crossing the Moor’ and depicting two foxhunters on horseback. Suffolk-born Munnings was raised on his father’s mill in Mendham surrounded by working horses and horse-drawn carts. In his spare time, he went to horse sales in Norwich and local horse races, and on the occasion of having his work accepted into the 1899 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, he went to the Bungay Races to celebrate.
Despite losing the sight in his right eye during a freak accident, Munnings was determined to become a painter. He attended the Norwich School of Art part-time while serving an apprenticeship at Page Brothers printers, before becoming a full-time painter, mainly focusing on rural scenes and portraits.
Munnings became associated with the Cornish artistic scene from 1910 onwards, joining the Lamorna artist colony and becoming a key figure in the Newlyn School of Art. During this period he composed many notable equestrian scenes focusing on horse-fairs and the local hunt at Zennor on the north coast, using the rugged landscape and vibrant light to stunning effect. This painting stems from that period and is a typical example of works showing huntsmen looming out from the untamed moors.
After being assessed as unfit to fight at the outbreak of the First World War, Munnings was assigned a civilian role processing thousands of Canadian horses en-route to France instead. He was soon enlisted as a war artist to the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, during which he painted many cavalry scenes including the ‘Charge of Flowerdew’s Squadron’ at the Battle of Moreuil Wood in 1918 – which became known as the last great cavalry charge. The painting is displayed in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, alongside many other Munnings works from this period.
After the war, Munnings career flourished and his social circle widened. His work was commissioned by many wealthy patrons including the Royal Family, ranging from the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) riding his horse Forest Witch, to the late Queen Elizabeth II’s racehorse Aureole.
He was elected president of the Royal Academy of Arts and made a Knight Bachelor in 1944. Over a six-decade career, Munnings exhibited 300 paintings at the Royal Academy, and his works are held in museums and galleries worldwide.
This painting bears a hand-annotated inscription stating "Bought from Mr Canham of Cecil Road who bought it 1 or 2 years before the War (1913?) at the sale of Mr Crick a portrait and landscape painter". It is sold with an estimate of £12,000-18,000.
Also offered in the same auction is a collection of watercolours, sketches and illustrations by Scottish artist George Denholm Armour OBE (1864-1949) and preliminary works by his close friend and fellow horse-enthusiast, Joseph Crawhall III (1861-1913).
The pair were both linked with the Glasgow Boys school of art, regularly travelled in Morocco and Spain, and were skilled artists of animals and birds. They met on a hunting and painting holiday before joining up to run a stud farmhouse in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire. When Armour married in 1898, Crawhall was his best man.
Armour’s career moved into illustrations for Punch, County Life and The Graphic; mainly being country sporting scenes, but also featuring boxing and other sports.
In 1910, he studied military equestrianism at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, and he became an honorary member of the Meadowbrook Polo Club in 1913. Armour fought in the First World War and was awarded an OBE 'For services rendered in connection with military operations in the Balkans'.
Crawhall was given his first one-man show at Alexander Reid’s Glasgow gallery in 1894, where most of his works were purchased by collector and wealthy shipping magnate William Burrell. Burrell’s eclectic collection was gifted to the nation in 1944, and many of the pieces can be seen at the dedicated museum in Glasgow. Sadly, Crawhall died young of pneumonia in 1913. A great perfectionist, few of his works survive due to his habit of discarding pictures which he deemed not good enough. This collection of sketches and preliminary works are a wonderful repository of this hugely talented artist, who did not live long enough to fulfil his full potential.
Armour returned to painting after the war and became a member of the Royal Scottish Academy. Some of his works are held in the City of Glasgow collection, the National Trust and National Galleries of Scotland.
The collection has been consigned to us by a descendant of George Denholm Armour's only child, Robert. They were Armour's own collection and have been passed down through the family. Most of the works were rescued from a serious fire at the family home - in fact one or two show signs of burns.
The auction also features further equine works including two oil paintings by Frances Mabel Hollams (1877-1963) - a rare example of a female sporting artist at the time (below), George Thomas Pace and Harold Gressley. A small preview can be seen here, and the full catalogue will be available two weeks prior to the auction on Wednesday 27th May. We will be open for public viewing on Tuesday 26th 10am-5pm.
.jpg)
.jpeg)
