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

Bought by the grandfather of the present owner

STRUCTURE Original canvas. The paint surface is in good overall condition; there are small areas of separation on the huntsman's coat, and to the hounds, lower centre and lower right and to the foreground in the same area. There is rich impasto throughout and the work may benefit from a light clean. ULTRAVIOLET UV light reveals infilling to the aforementioned paint separation, otherwise original condition. FRAME Held in a later plaster moulded frame in fair condition.
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On the Hunt is likely to date from the first decade of the twentieth century and, as such, is an early treatment of a subject that would become one of Munnings' favourites and most successful. A huntsman, possibly the Master of Hounds, sits astride a powerful chestnut hunter while the pack of hounds gather obediently beneath him. Their tails are up which suggests, along with the morning light and the cleanliness of horse and rider, that the chase is yet to begin.  This creates tension and expectation; in that sense it relates to the numerous paintings of racehorses lined up at the start which Munnings executed in the 1940s and 1950s. The relatively formal structure of the composition, with the horse and rider in profile and the hounds uniformly facing the same direction, evokes a strong sense of authority which is further enhanced by the low perspective.

For Munnings, capturing the atmosphere of a scene was of the upmost importance.  To portray this he would  immerse himself in the subject and experience it to the greatest possible degree before rendering it on canvas.  He rode out with, and followed, various hunts in his native East Anglia and considering the suggested date of the present work it may easily be the Suffolk Hunt. Despite this he had an equivocal attitude to the sport, ' A good hunt made me wish for another.  A bad day sent me back to work' (Sir Alfred Munnings, The Second Burst, 1951, p.175).  

Munnings' mastery of light, atmosphere and landscape, qualities strongly evident in the present work, were combined to great effect with his superb abilities as a portrait painter resulting in a series of a celebrated, large scale hunting scenes in the 1920s.  One of his most prestigious commissions, executed in 1921, was the portrait of The Prince of Wales on Forest Witch (private collection) where the future King was shown on a chestnut horse in hunting attire. This work was hailed by The Times art critic, Frank Rutter as 'an admirable equestrian portrait of the most popular sportsman in the United Kingdom by our greatest living sporting artist'.