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

Fine Art Society, London;
Col. Douglas B. Weldon, Canada, c.1939 and thence by descent to the present owner

Original canvas. The work appears in excellent overall condition with a rich, impastoed surface. May benefit from a light surface clean. Ultraviolet light reveals some minor, isolated areas of retouching: one in lower left corner, a few flecks in the sky and by lower right corner, which have been well executed. Held in a gilt plaster frame.
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As the course of the First World War unfolded, Alfred Munnings found himself one of many artists called upon to record the Allied war effort. The works produced by these artists, including the likes of C.R.W. Nevinson, Paul Nash, David Bomberg, Stanley Spencer, William Orpen and John Lavery, are some of the most remarkable and powerful images of twentieth century British art. As the centenary of the outbreak is remembered this year, their art is a living reminder of the conflict. 

When war was declared, Munnings twice attempted to enlist in the Hampshire Yeomanry but was dismissed by the doctor at the medical examination: 'The fellow's blind in his right' (quoted in Sir Alfred Munnings, An Artist's Life, 1950, p.298). However in 1917, quite unexpectedly, he received his opportunity to witness the war first hand when he was commissioned by the Canadian government to paint their activities in France for the Canadian War Records. This initiative was established through the tireless efforts of Lord Beaverbrook to ensure that Canadian achievements in the war were recognised. After the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, Beaverbrook had been disturbed that Canadian soldiers’ vital efforts had been unrecorded by photographers. Consequently, under the auspices of his Canadian War Memorials Fund, he established a war programme that would involve more than one hundered artists – Belgian, British and Canadian – operating in Canada, England, the Near East, Russia and France. Munnings was brought to Beaverbrook's attention by Paul Konody, art critic of The Observer, and upon his recommendation Munnings was sent to join the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, under the command of General J. E. B. Seely (later Lord Mottistone). Seely and Munnings were to become good friends, and he was Munnings’ first subject from the war in Major General the Right Honourable J. E. B. Seely on his Charger ‘Warrior’ (Canadian War Museum, Ottawa), which was painted less than a mile away from the enemy line. Seely recalled of Munnings’ time in their company: ‘It had never been the intention of the Canadian authorities that Munnings should join in the front line but this whimsical and gallant soul thought that this was just the best place in which to be. And so it turned out, for by common consent, his paintings and drawings of the Canadian horses, close up against the front line, are some of the most brilliant things he has ever done’ (quoted in Jean Goodman, What a Go! The Life of Alfred Munnings, 1988, p.133).

Equipped with three stretchers (one thirty by twenty-five inches and two twenty-four by twenty inches) plus numerous canvases cut to fit these, together with sketching papers, watercolours, oil and brushes, all packed into a light, narrow box, Munnings worked energetically between 1917-18, producing a substantial body of works which, as Lord Beaverbrook intended, stand today as an important record of the Canadian war effort. Munnings relished the opportunities that presented themselves working among the regiment. 'Indeed the war made one work; but what a chance for an artist! Day after day with all the models I needed and all becoming interested.' (Munnings, op. cit., p.304). He shared a camaraderie with the soldiers who were intrigued by this artist amongst their ranks and in his autobiography, Munnings wrote how he came to 'respect and admire Canadians', finding them 'the finest and best fellows I have ever met' (Ibid.). 

The Canadian Calvary Brigade was formed in January 1915 but as the advancement of machinery in modern warfare rapidly revealed itself, the regiment existed largely as dismounted infantry, a role for which it had not been trained. There were however, a few occasions which did allow mounted operations, most notably when Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew ordered a cavalry charge at Moreuil Wood, near Amiens, to halt the advancement of German troops. The action prevented the German capture of Moreuil Wood but they suffered atrocious casualties, including the death of Flowerdew, for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. Although not a witness, Munnings paid tribute to this heroic action in Charge of Flowerdew’s Squadron (Canadian War Museum). It is a technically brilliant painting in the dynamic brushwork evoking the movement of the horses and a profound record of the last great cavalry charge. 

In A Patrol in France, 1917 Munnings has caught a more solitary moment. A Canadian soldier holds the reins of two saddled horses, awaiting the return of his fellow rider who is presumably carrying out field reconnaissance. In execution, the works shows Munnings at his best: in the beautiful depiction of the horses and in the Impressionistic brushwork detailing the foreground and the trees which reach into the sky, catching the afternoon light. This new environment was quite a departure from the joyful, summer days Munnings recorded in his paintings of the English countryside before the war, but his paintings on the front line are executed with the same verve and technical brilliance, and his experiences painting en plein air had prepared him well for the new challenges that presented themselves. By early summer 1918, Munnings was ordered home and the following year, forty-five of his pictures were shown at the Canadian War Records exhibition at the Royal Academy to wide acclaim. The experience advanced Munnings' career, being elected an Associate of the Royal Academy following the exhibition (commencing his well-known ascendancy to its President) and establishing for himself a reputation as a gifted painter of formal equestrian subjects, which would see him commissioned by the highest members of society and result in some of his most famous works. 

There was a certain inevitability that Munnings should find himself assigned to a cavalry unit during the war, given his well-documented love of horses. Indeed he went to considerable lengths, and costs, to ensure his own two horses were not among those sent to France. Munnings had an instinctive response to painting horses, which stemmed from his in depth understanding of them. In the present work, one senses the genuine rapport between the soldier and the two horses, evoked in a manner that could only belong to Munnings. These paintings pay tribute to the vital role horses played in the war, and of the emotive bond shared between man and horse - a note brought to life more recently in the celebrated War Horse productions. Few artists, if any, would have been better suited to Munnings' commission from the Canadian government; A Patrol in France, 1917 is witness to that.