This is a far more technical painting than it first seems. Munnings has used the architecture of the house to frame key aspects of the picture. Violet is directly in the middle of the composition, with perspectival depth emphasised by the angles of Munnings’ hat and palette. The colours blend and balance, with the blue of Munnings’ cravat replicated on his palette; the red of Violet’s lipstick on the saddle and curtain.

This work may have been inspired by Changing Horses or have been a preparatory study for the work.

A year after acquiring Castle House, Munnings married his second wife the renowned horsewoman Violet McBride in 1920. The high demand for his commissioned works forced him to spend considerable periods of time away. On one such occasion in May 1920 he wrote to Violet: “We’ll have evenings on the River when I get back. I’ll do a good one of you in the canoe. You see if I don’t...” On his return Munnings began a series of paintings. There have been at least 6 versions of the ‘The White Canoe’ with Violet and a friend.

Sir Raymond Green, DSO, MP on Horseback was one of Munnings’ first commissions after WWI; a direct result of the accolade he received for his equestrian war portraits at the Royal Academy Exhibition in early 1919. It was Sir Raymond Greene who arranged for Munnings to meet Major Tommy Bouch, Master of the Belvoir Hunt of which Munnings commented “…this was an introduction to a man who was offering more than I could ever have expected – board, lodgings, models without end..”.

Munnings travelled to France in late 1921 to paint for Baron Robert de Rothschild at his Laversine Chateau near Chantilly. He had earlier painted the mares and foals at Southcourt Stud, near Leighton Buzzard, for another member of the Rothschild banking family, Anthony de Rothschild. As with various patrons he was invited to paint the family, the hunt and anything else of his choosing and welcome to stay for an extended period.

While staying at Baron Robert de Rothschild's chateau, painting commissions, Munnings would venture out in order to paint local scenes for himself.

Munnings travelled to France in late 1921 to paint for Baron Robert de Rothschild at his Laversine Chateau near Chantilly. He had earlier painted the mares and foals at Southcourt Stud, near Leighton Buzzard, for another member of the Rothschild banking family, Anthony de Rothschild. As with various patrons he was invited to paint the family, the hunt and anything else of his choosing and welcome to stay for an extended period.

In his autobiography Munnings recalls naming a horse bred by him as Cherrybounce after a horse belonging to Lord Scamperdale in Mr Sponge’s Sporting Tour (1853), by R. S. Surtees. Munnings was inspired to write a ballad about Cherrybounce while out for a long ride with her on Exmoor and then resting at a deserted farmhouse. “Dreaming there; feeling the mellow warmth of the sun in my very bones, I gained fresh inspiration. The only paper in my pocket was was the small pad which I had already filled with my first flow of verses and alterations written on dismounting, by the stream.”

This was the first thoroughbred horse Munnings painted at Castle House as a commission for Lady Torrington. Unlike Augereau, in the sandpit, Munnings has refined his use of colour and light. Rich Gift still maintains a sculptural effect but here Munnings brush strokes are smoother. The colours used on Rich Gift’s coat are not as obvious as those on Augereau. However, Munnings still uses greens, blues, pinks, yellows, browns and purple in order to create the form of the horse.

This small study of a woman was carried out in preparation for the larger painting, 'Gypsy Life', which is now in the collection of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums ,Scotland.

"The painting of Ikey Bell's portrait at his house in Kilkenny would fill pages were I to tell of all that happened and the people I met there,..."

'But', said Ikey, with a worried expression, 'If I have to sit on a wooden horse all dressed up in front of the house, what the deuce will people say when I come back to call?'
I said 'Damn the callers; you just sit there!'

(Sir Alfred Munnings 'The Second Burst')

The Duchess of Westminster was an exacting sitter for her
portrait. In his autobiography Munnings recalls a visit to
Eaton Hall in Cheshire, to paint her:
‘The Duchess in habit and bowler... The portrait of the
Duchess was painted in the ball-room...
The sitter, a well-built enough lady, would get down from
the wooden saddle-horse and declare I was making her
too stout. Again she sat on the saddle and again I altered
the picture to her liking but not mine, for I thought her
a perfect figure on a horse. “Look” said she, licking a
soft pencil, “make my eyelashes darker...like this!”
I should have painted the lady as I saw her...the picture
of health-a good colour-a good figure-a strong seat on a
horse; grace and beauty combined.’

Following the exhibition the publisher Frost and Reed began to produce fine prints of the Belvoir Hunt scenes. The museum has several of these in its collection and this year is pleased to have on loan from a private collector three of the original paintings.
Belvoir Hunt, Woolsthorpe, Grantham