SIR ALFRED JAMES MUNNINGS, P.R.A., R.W.S. | The Gypsy Encampment

Purchased directly from the artist and thence by descent to the present owners

Alongside the hunting scenes and commissioned equestrian portraits, gypsies also occupied much of Munnings' work, informing some of his most celebrated works, such as Gypsy Life, 1920 (Aberdeen Art Gallery). The present example is a more informal approach, Munnings swiftly portraying characters lounging by a camp on a summer's day with fluid, spontaneous brushwork. 

The pre-occupation with gypsy life was something Munnings shared with his contemporaries at the turn of the twentieth century, such as Augustus John and Laura Knight. The appeal lay in their traditional ways of life, which were seemingly unaffected by the modernity that had been fundamentally altering contemporary living since the mid-Victorian era.