The deal

Early in his career, Munnings painted many country scenes of farm sales and horse fairs, mainly between 1901 and 1905. The scenes were an important part of country life when most farmers around East Anglia still used horsepower. Fairs and sales such as this were not only an important part of the rural social calendar but also a source of thriving commerce. In his autobiography, he describes a similar painting which is at the Castle Museum, Norwich: 'A Country Horse Fair. Bright sun, tents, crowds, and a black horse hustled by one man and held by another. For this Gray Junior dressed himself in one of those hikey horse dealer's suits which were made for me to my measurements at a particular kind of tailor's in Norwich. A vanished type, those masterful horse-dealers. They roused a horse, shaking a stiff, pink, cambric flag in its face, the horse on a long halter to give it play. A fellow in velvet and checks shouted, 'Lord Wellington didn't ride one like 'im in the battle of Waterloo! Every time he sets 'is foot 'e strikes a milestone!'' (A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, London, 1950, pp.142-43).

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.