About this lot

Description

§ Sir Alfred Munnings KCVO, PRA, RI (British 1878-1959)
Hot Toddy signed 'AJ Munnings' (lower left) pencil, black ink and watercolour 14 x 22cm

Footnote: One of the foremost figures of British Impressionism in the 20th century, Sir Alfred Munnings had a rich and varied career and, whilst most famed for his equestrian portraits, is also celebrated for his rural Suffolk landscapes and high society portraits. In 1892, after a frustrating tenure at Framlingham College during which Munnings felt his freedom to nurture his artistic endeavours had been gravely restricted, the teenage Munnings was apprenticed to publishing house Page Bros. & Co, where he was to spend the next six years learning the artistic and technical skills of lithographic printing. Munnings quickly established a reputation amongst the firm’s clients for producing innovative, bright, and humorous advertisements, which often featured Regency style characters. Describing his abiding interest in the culture and aesthetics of the Regency period, Munnings commented, “a part of my inconsistent mind was soaked in the costume and foppery” (AJ Munnings, An Artist's Life, Museum Press, 1950, p.82). Depicting a Regency coachman and two Regency gentlemen enjoying a hot toddy whilst, presumably, awaiting their carriage, the present lot is thought to have been executed shortly after Munnings concluded his apprenticeship and is typical, both in its bold, graphic design and comedic tone, of Munnings’ early commercial work.

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