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

Frost & Reed Ltd., London by 1955
Mrs. Eric Phillips, Canada (and sold: Sotheby's, London, April 22, 1970, no. 270, illustrated)
J. Thrall (acquired at above sale)
The Sporting Gallery, Middleburg, Virginia
Acquired from the above by the present owner in the early 1970s

Connoisseur, September, 1955 (as Tom Mollard and the Madron Kennels)

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This large vigorous work is in beautiful condition. The canvas has an English lining that is stabilizing the paint layer without compromising the impasto. It shows no structural damage, abrasion or weakness. A few tiny cracks have been retouched in the red coat of the figure around his chest. There is a spot or two in the upper center sky, but this is clearly a work in fantastic state. The canvas could be tightened slightly on its stretcher and the work might respond to a light cleaning, but it can certainly also 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."

Munnings moved from Norfolk to Cornwall by 1911, and spent much of the following years around the farming village of Zennor on the north coast.  In describing the move, the artist used the language of the land, explaining that "from all this rich, Norfolk farming country — these vistas of hedgerow-oaks and elms, woodlands, cornfields and low meadows — I found myself in a land of stone walls and tall, stone-faced banks covered with wild flowers… It was a wild, almost treeless, stone-walled country" (Sir Alfred Munnings, An Artist's Life, London, 1950, p. 271).  The new discovery of the beautiful strangeness of Cornwall's landscape coincided with the artist's growing reputation as a painter of hunting scenes, which typically used one of his favored grooms and horses as a model.  Depicting the expected suite of images of The Chase, or The Return of the Huntsmen, Munnings typically employed a format that recalled the hunting prints of previous centuries.  Indeed, as defined by G.H. Mair in 1924's The Studio, The North Cornish Hunt's composition follows expected models of "the carefully drawn side view, with the horses and the men in pink and the conventional landscape...something which is as much part of English tradition as roast beef or the Pickwick Papers" (as quoted in Kenneth McConkey, "English the Scene, English the Atmosphere" in An English Idyll, exh. cat., London, Sotheby's, January 2-25, 2001, p. 17). Yet, with its powerfully formed striding horse and grand rider, intermingled with the blur of hounds' brown and white coats, set against the green and gray swipes and dabs of sky and landscape, The North Cornish Hunt extends beyond traditional motifs.  Combining established hunting iconography with a fresh new vision, this work is a monument to Munnings' artistic achievement.

An important aspect of Munnings' development was his progression toward a greater naturalism, coupled with impressionistic vigor. The movement of the hounds as they scurry in search of the day's quarry echoes the quick spontaneity of his brush, which recorded passing light effects and the animal's movement.  Oblong blocks of blues, grays and whites make up the moving sky and native stone croppings, while sketchier passages are overlaid on larger layers of ochre paint to make up the scraggly grasses and mosses growing from Cornwall's hard earth. This painterly technique demonstrates the influence of Munning's Cornish friends—the community of painters known as the Newlyn School, which included Dame Laura Knight, Lamorna Birch and Augustus John.  While not an acknowledged member of the School, Munnings worked in a similar manner to these English plein-air painters, whose compositions were close studies of their environment and a careful balance of colors and form.  As Lionel Lindsay explained in his appreciation of the artist, Munnings uses "live colours—yellow and orange, scarlet, purple and green" which "must be placed with a fine, harmonious precision, or the whole atmospheric balance of the picture will be upset" (A. J. Munnings, R.A: Pictures of Horses and English Life, New York, 1939, p. 17-18).  He continually strikes this balance with the reflective blues and grays of the damp, atmospheric sky, which repeat in the shimmering highlights on the horse's coat.  Indeed, the composition guides the eye from one patch of color to another, creating a flowing illusion of movement further heightened by a daring crop of hound's rear feet and tail as he strides away from the picture space at lower right. 

As the hounds move along the ground, the huntsman and horse have turned toward the viewer, as if we have interrupted the moment when the huntsman is addressing the pack to keep them in line.  The identity of this imposing sitter remains a matter of debate.  There is some speculation that the sitter is Ned Osborne, Munnings' groom at the time and frequent model while the horse is the artist's bay, St. Patrick, who was of impressive size and strength. Others believe it to be Tom Mollard, a member of the Western Hounds based at Madron.  Despite this ambiguity, both models possessed hardy and heroic features that were distinct to the men Munnings admired. Unlike the larger fields and woods of East Anglia, in Cornwall and its surrounding areas huntsmen and their horses and hounds chased foxes across rugged, raw landscapes along the cliffs to the sea; the sound of horns echoed across open spaces and the flash of pink coats broke through the foggy air. Indeed, The North Cornish Hunt possesses a strength and force of composition which seems inherent to the land that inspired it: "granite country, where the soil was shallow… the most picturesque and primitive place," (Munnings, Artist's Life, p. 275).  It afforded Munnings the opportunity to paint an icon of the hunt and to showcase his own unique talent.