Sir Alfred James Munnings, P.R.A., R.W.S. (Mendham 1878-1959 Dedham)

This was probably painted in September 1913, in Binsted, Hampshire, where the artist spent six weeks painting the gypsies who came for the hop harvest. In his autobiography Munnings described with enthusiasm his time painting the gypsies, 'Never in my life have I been so filled with a desire to work as I was then. The families that I got to know had picturesque children, dogs and horses. The women had, somewhere in the back of each caravan, great black hats with ostrich feathers, laid away for gala days, or to be worn when selling baskets or brushes on the road. Nobody could beat their style of dress, with black silk apron over a full-pleated skirt, a pink or mauve blouse showing off a tough, lithe figure; strings of red beads, and wonderful earrings glinting under blue-black hair, came into their make-up, and sure enough, if I needed it, the large black hat - complete with ostrich feathers - was produced and worn.' (A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Bungay, 1950, p. 289).

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings being prepared by Lorian Peralta-Ramos.