15th Nov, 2025 9:30 GMT/BST
British, European & Sporting Art
1073
Sir Alfred Munnings KCVO, PRA, RI (1878-1959)
"Tombland Fair"
Signed and indistinctly dated, oil on canvas, 34cm by 44.5cm
Provenance: With inscribed Pettus House, Norwich label verso, with date September 30th 1950
Mr and Mrs James Alston, Uphall, given in appreciation of the help and advice given so generously to the Scots settled in East Anglia during the previous 30 years, September 30th 1950
Thence by descent
Sold together with the presentation plaque, where the above information is taken.
We are grateful to Dr Bill Teatheredge and the curatorial team at The Munnings Art Museum for their assistance in cataloguing this lot, 2025
When Munnings first set himself up as an artist in his own right, in the first decade of the twentieth century, his subject matter was the countryside and country life, of which he was very much a part of in the middle of East Anglia. Many of his first subjects would be the Romani Gypsy in the area who ran travelling fairs. Munnings would also visit the Gypsy horse fairs and used a number of true Romani Gypsy characters as his models. Munnings was taken by the vibrance, flamboyant colours and ruggedness of the people and caravans he painted.
As he lived near Norwich and travelled about East Anglia at this time, he would visit all kinds of fairs and country horse races, which he would record in his normal impressionist manner of colour and light. The Tombland Fair was a historic fair and market which had been held in Norwich since the Norman conquest. When Munnings was painting the Fair it would have been the hub of the city, filled with funfairs, horse sales and market stalls. Central to that would have been the participation of the local Gypsy families who were his friends.
In this painting, we get a behind-the-scenes look at Gypsy life at the Fair as they prepare food outside their caravans on a rather grey, wet day. From what we know of Munnings' practice, this painting was very probably completed on the spot with thick streaks of impasto paint to bring out the highlights.
This was the core of Munnings' oeuvre at the time before he became an internationally renowned equine artist after the First World War. In his three volumes of autobiography, written towards the end of his life, Munnings lamented missing those early days and subjects, especially having sausage suppers with his Romani friends.
Sold for £20,000
Estimated at £20,000 - £30,000
Unlined. All keys present, fair tension perhaps a little lacking. Tacking margins all intact with no splits, and only minor distortions and old knocks and scuffs, and one tack missing at the reverse centre top. Some of the tacks at the outer edges are rusted. A quantity of dirt and debris at the turnover margins and behind the bottom stretcher. Old tack holes in turnover margins likely from securing whilst painting. A few dark spotty marks on reverse of the canvas. Unclear what these are.
Slight undulations/draws in the bottom right and top left corners of the canvas. A few minor small patches of brittle age craquelure in the impasto, one very slightly elevated and one flaked loss of paint and ground approx. 3 inches above the bowls on the table. The paint and ground otherwise appear secure. A few small areas of stable drying cracks, largely across the middle of the painting (see images). In addition to the one flaked loss of paint and ground, there are minor rubbed losses at all corners, and very minor rubbing from the frame rebate. Paint and ground otherwise intact. A few areas where are dried lumps of paint mixed in to the brushstrokes - particularly around the signature.
A fairly old varnish, even surface gloss, slightly greyish yellow visible where it has pooled thicker in the impasto of the paint. There is one diagonal dark drip in the sky between the roofs of the central and left caravans - this is reddish brown and looks to be paint, and is the same colour as the caravans etc. A few very minor scuffs and scratches around edges, a layer of surface dirt including a few fly spots.
It is possible that the canvas was reused. There is impasto in passages that does not correspond with the paint on the surface, and there is a second signature inscribed into paint when it was wet. This reads 'A J Munnings' and runs vertically in the bottom left corner - see images in UV and raking light. This is visible in normal light.
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Auction: British, European & Sporting Art, 15th Nov, 2025
An early work by Alfred Munnings depicting Romani life at Norwich’s historic Tombland Fair is set to lead the sale. Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) grew up in the deeply rural Waveney Valley in Suffolk, and his childhood was spent sketching the working horses around the family mill. Going on to set up his own studio, the opening decade of the 20th century saw him established himself as an artist painting in rural East Anglia, documenting the countryside and country life, sketching travellers, working horses and the local society in his characteristic impressionistic manner, filled with colour and light. It was only after the First World War that he went on to concentrate on painting horses, becoming the most celebrated equestrian artist of the 20th century.
A good range of traditional Sporting art of offer in the sale includes a rare depiction of a 19th century boxing match - one of the most fascinating works in the sale. It illustrates the match which took place between Carter and Oliver at Gretna Green on 4th October 1816 on the estate of Sir James Maxwell. The stakes were a hefty 100 guineas each, and the contest took place in a 24-foot roped ring in front of approximately 30,000 spectators, leaving the streets around Carlisle empty. Going into the match, Oliver was the favourite to win, but despite rumours of Carter’s lack of prowess, he dominated the fight and came out the victor. Carter was seconded by Painter and Harmer, and Oliver by Cribb and Copper, whose names are painted on the bottom of the frame.
There is also a strong selection of ornithological works by the likes of Archibald Thorburn and John Cyril Harrison.
Further highlights of the sale include The Incredulity of St Thomas by a Follower of Philippe de Champaigne, and a charming depiction of two children inspecting a bird’s nest by Dorothea Sharp.
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