Sir Alfred James Munnings, P.R.A., R.W.S.

Mr. Bayard Tuckerman, Jr. (commissioned from the artist in 1924)
Thence by descent through the family to the present owner 

Sir Alfred Munnings, The Second Burst, London, 1951, p. 165-6

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work is in lovely condition. The canvas is unlined. The paint layer is clean and lightly varnished. A few small cracks have been retouched in the darker colors beneath the rider's skirt, in the front of the skirt and in the left side of the horse's neck. There is possibly a small restoration in the upper right sky. The sky is very vigorously and quickly painted, and although there are pentimenti and some rough areas of pigment, there is no damage. It is recommended that the work be hung in its current state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In 1924, Munnings left England for his only trip to the United States, a whirlwind six month itinerary he remembered as “gloriously mad days” full of painting and parties (Munnings, p. 160). Munnings made the crossing on the ocean liner Berengaria , where he met American millionaire Frederick Prince— who invited the artist to the Boston area to paint equestrian portraits of himself and his family.  Munnings first visited New York, Washington, and Pittsburgh (where he was enlisted by Homer St. Gauden, the Director of the Carnegie Institute, as a judge of the Twenty-Third Annual International Exhibition), painting various members of the American elite (Joseph Bailio, “Munnings in America,” Alfred J. Munnings 1878-1959, exh. cat. Wildenstein, New York, 1983, n.p.). He later joined the Prince family on their estate at Pride’s Crossing, Massachusetts, where he expanded his portrait commissions to their fellow members of the South Hamilton’s Myopia Hunt Club— the first being Mr. and Mrs. Bayard Tuckerman.

From their engagement in 1916, Bayard and Phyllis Sears Tuckerman were considered one of the most striking couples of New England.  As one society columnist noted they “afford an unfailing centre of interest, and I never saw a more attractive couple…. [she] is so winsome, so good to look upon and so happy, and Mr. Tuckerman… so manly and so athletic, that it is a joy to watch them” (“Recently Engaged Girls Noted Among Society Throngs at the Opera, Boston Sunday Post, April 9, 1916, p. 53).  Beyond her beauty Mrs. Tuckerman was recognized as a “leader in society’s ‘athletic set’” a “noted horse-woman” with “riding… one of her favorite pastimes” (Boston’s Richest Girl is to Marry, Boston Post, April 3, 1916, p. 1). Her energy and elegance entranced Munnings on their first meeting, his finished portrait perfectly illustrating his remembrance of her as: “one of the best-looking women I have ever painted— fair haired, with a beautiful complexion, good features, the best-cut nose in the world, and a lovely chin.  Wearing a silk hat and well-cut habit, she was perfection, and was as nice as she looked” (Munnings p. 165-6).  Munnings acknowledged the challenge and pressure of faithfully capturing his sitters’ likenesses, explaining “the mere righting of a nose in the picture and I am cheered” (Munnings, p. 211).  As such he likely painted Mrs. Tuckerman first in studio and in separate sessions from her chestnut mare, Desert Queen (the same horse ridden by the Prince of Wales on his visit to their Hamilton estate in the fall of 1924).  In the present work the open blue-grey sky frames Mrs. Tuckerman riding sidesaddle, a pose the artist found “the essence of grace and symmetry,” while the vast, uncluttered landscape increases the viewer’s awareness of Munnings’ sensitivity to equine form (Sir Alfred Munnings, The Finish, London, 1952, p. 27). The horse is not only anatomically correct but is rendered with convincing vitality and soild substance, built with layers of varying shades of brown, from rich russet to lightest buff, to suggest the sheen of the animal’s musculature. Munnings repeatedly and carefully observed both horse and rider in order to create a testament to both a lively, lovely woman of the early twentieth century and his own highly personal artistic vision.