Sir Alfred Munnings, P.R.A., is now established as the most famous British equestrian painter of the twentieth-century. Born on a farm near Dedham in Essex, Alfred Munnings studied at the Norwich School of Art and was much influenced initially by the famous artists of that area. He was a regular visitor to Newlyn in Cornwall, moving there in 1911 – the year in which this drypoint was made. In Newlyn Alfred Munnings came into contact with artists such as Laura Knight and Augustus John and although an outspoken traditionalist, he formed a characteristic modern style of his own. Despite the handicap of being blinded in one eye at the age of twenty, Alfred Munnings was to become one of the most successful artists of his generation, rising to become a darling of wealthy society and President of the Royal Academy of Arts (in favour of Augustus John) in 1944. Upon his death a memorial tablet was placed in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral next to that of John Constable. |
