On the moors

In the summers of 1910 and 1911, Munnings went on extended painting expeditions from his home at Swainsthorpe to the nearby Ringland Hills, making his headquarters at The Falcon Inn at Costessey. Here he found ready subjects and models in the horse dealers, families of gypsies and ponies that congregated at the fairs and public houses throughout the summer months. However, it was the images of the gypsy boy Shrimp with the artist’s collection of ponies that would come to define this period of Munnings’s oeuvre and create some of his most celebrated pictures.

Probably painted during Munnings’s second idyllic summer in Ringland, On the Moors, shows a trio of horses grazing in the hills. There is a languor to the image that can be found in so many pictures from the Ringland Hills series. One can almost hear the humming of the insects and feel the soft breeze as the horses twitch their tails.

The picture was originally owned by one of Munnings’s most important early patrons, Charles A. Bunting (1878-1950). Bunting maintained a lifelong friendship with Munnings and his wife, Violet, often attending horse races together. In 1932 Bunting offered 6 paintings from his collection for auction at Christie's. Alongside the present picture were famous early works such as Charlotte’s Pony, 1905 (Private Collection), and Coming through the Gap, 1910 (Private Collection). The majority of the collection was passed on to his son, Dr Charles F. Bunting, and sold after his death at Christie’s, London, 12 June 2002.

We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos, Tristram Lewis and the Curatorial staff at The Munnings Museum for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.