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Lot Essay
H.R.H. the Princess Royal on 'Portumna' and the Earl of Harewood, Master of the Bramham Moor Hunt, on 'Tommy' forms the cornerstone of the three paintings that the 6th Earl of Harewood commissioned from Sir Alfred Munnings in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as three of Munnings’ finest works, the trio celebrate the family’s long connection with the Bramham Moor Hunt and their love of horses and the Yorkshire countryside. Whilst the first, The Bramham Moor Hounds at Weeton Whin, focuses on the hunt staff, and the final picture, H.R.H. the Princess Royal on her grey horse 'Portumna' is a bravura plein air portrait of the Earl’s wife, H.R.H. Princess Mary, the present work merges the two subjects together to create an elegant portrait of H.R.H. the Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood out with the hunt of which he had been Master since 1921.
H.R.H. Princess Mary was born at Sandringham in 1897, the third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. After her eldest brother King Edward VIII abdicated the throne on 11 December 1936 the title passed to his younger brother the Duke of York, who became King George VI, the father of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Mary is therefore the great-aunt of the present King Charles III. In many ways she was one of the first modern royals, spending her time during the First World War doing charity work, visiting hospitals and launching fundraising campaigns for British soldiers and sailors. She later trained as a nurse and worked two days a week at Great Ormond Street children’s hospital. During the Second World War the Earl and Countess of Harewood offered Harewood House as a convalescent hospital for wounded servicemen.
In Westminster Abbey on 28 February 1922 H.R.H. Princess Mary married Henry, Viscount Lascelles, from 1929 the 6th Earl of Harewood, a soldier who had served with distinction during the World War I. For a nation only recently enjoying the prosperity of peace after years of war, it was a cause for celebration, attracting global attention and the first Royal wedding to receive coverage in fashion magazines such as Vogue (fig. 1).
In 1929 Lord Harewood commissioned Sir Alfred Munnings, the leading equestrian artist of the day, to paint the present work depicting the couple with some of their favourite horses and hounds near their first family home, Goldsborough Hall near Knaresborough in Yorkshire. It was to act as a companion piece to The Bramham Moor Hounds at Weeton Whin, (fig. 2, sold in these Rooms, 11 July 2019, lot 53 for £2,171,250), painted for Viscount Lascelles a few years earlier and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1928.
H.R.H. the Princess Royal on 'Portumna' and the Earl of Harewood, Master of the Bramham Moor Hunt, on 'Tommy' shows Munnings at his finest. By the late 1920s he had perfected the art of the equestrian portrait in the grand country house tradition, having spent the best part of a decade travelling around the country painting the horses and portraits of the British aristocracy. In the present work he has brought all his skills together and unified them into a magnificent testimony to the glamour of nobility of both rider and steed, and the tradition of the hunt.
According to Munnings’ autobiography the Princess and her husband sat for their portraits in his London studio and, as was his practice, he then travelled to Goldsborough Hall to paint the horses, hounds and countryside. He recalled how a ‘darkness overcast the sky for days’ which in characteristic fashion Munnings derided as ‘the smoke of industralisation’. (A.J. Munnings, The Second Burst, London, 1951, p. 225). Goldsborough Hall had formed part of the Harewood estate since 1784, acting as a Dower House, hunting lodge or house for the heir-in-waiting. H.R.H. Princess Mary made a number of changes to the house and grounds, details of which can still be seen today, including stained glass windows on the staircase depicting the union of the Lascelles and Royal Families. In the garden new vistas were created and, to the south east of the formal garden, a copse of Japanese cherry trees was planted: a wedding gift from the Emperor of Japan. Interestingly in the hills on the right hand side of the painting Munnings has painted a prominent white building, which appears to be Harewood House itself (fig. 3). Perhaps he added this detail to reflect the fact that by the time the commission was finished Viscount Lascelles had inherited the title and was now the 6th Earl of Harewood.
Central to the painting is H.R.H. Princess Mary (she was given the title of Princess Royal in 1932 by her father after the death of her aunt Louise), the picture of elegance on her striking dappled grey, Portumna (fig. 4). The horse was a present to the Princess from the hunting women of Ireland on the occasion of her wedding and named after the family’s Irish estate. The grey also featured in the third and final commission Munnings received from the Earl of Harewood, H.R.H. the Princess Royal on her grey horse 'Portumna', (fig. 5, 1931, Harewood House, Yorkshire) which the artist considered his best plein air portrait. Her centrality presented something of a dilemma to the Princess who wrote to Munnings on 4 May 1929 requesting he change the composition as she was worried that ‘you are in danger of putting me in so prominent a position that my husband will appear too much as an accessory’ (unpublished letter from H.R.H. Princess Mary to Sir Alfred Munnings, dated 4 May 1929, Chesterfield House, in the collection of The Munnings Art Museum, Dedham). She also pointed out that as the painting was a companion to the painting of the Bramham Moor hunt servants and hounds, that the ‘Master should be the principal figure or at any rate not subsidiary to any other figure’ (op. cit.). Munnings appears to have heeded her words and reworked the angle of Lord Harewood’s head to ensure that his gaze falls directly on the viewer. However fine the portrait of his face, the eye is still drawn to the elegant figure of his wife and her striking horse. His success at capturing the Princess’ features delighted Munnings, and drew praise from her mother-in-law, the Dowager Countess of Harewood, who on seeing the portrait in Munnings’ studio exclaimed ‘”Don’t touch it again: you have got Mary exactly.”’ (The Second Burst, p. 225).
Munnings had begun painting members of the Royal family in 1920 with the widely-acclaimed portrait of The Prince of Wales on 'Forest Witch' (Royal Academy, 1921, Private Collection). A few years later Queen Mary commissioned The Ascot Procession crossing Windsor Park (Royal Academy, 1926, The Royal Collection), which depicted the royal family returning from the races, and in 1936 Munnings painted his only posthumous portrait, of the late King George V on his white Highland pony, Jock, in Sandringham Park (Ipswich Borough Council Collection). The patronage of the British Royal family cemented Munnings’ reputation as the finest sporting artist of his generation. Munnings, and in particular his wife, Violet, had an eye for self-promotion and it was only to be expected that he chose to exhibit his most important commissions each summer at the Royal Academy. These paintings advertised his skill with the brush and acted as a calling card for any future patrons. It is not surprising therefore that all three of the Harewood Munnings were exhibited at the Academy the year after their completion or that Munnings requested the loan of The Bramham Moor Hounds at Weeton Whin and H.R.H. the Princess Royal on 'Portumna' and the Earl of Harewood, Master of the Bramham Moor Hunt, on 'Tommy' for his 1956 Retrospective at the Royal Academy.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos, the Curatorial staff at The Munnings Museum and Tristram Lewis for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
H.R.H. Princess Mary was born at Sandringham in 1897, the third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. After her eldest brother King Edward VIII abdicated the throne on 11 December 1936 the title passed to his younger brother the Duke of York, who became King George VI, the father of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Mary is therefore the great-aunt of the present King Charles III. In many ways she was one of the first modern royals, spending her time during the First World War doing charity work, visiting hospitals and launching fundraising campaigns for British soldiers and sailors. She later trained as a nurse and worked two days a week at Great Ormond Street children’s hospital. During the Second World War the Earl and Countess of Harewood offered Harewood House as a convalescent hospital for wounded servicemen.
In Westminster Abbey on 28 February 1922 H.R.H. Princess Mary married Henry, Viscount Lascelles, from 1929 the 6th Earl of Harewood, a soldier who had served with distinction during the World War I. For a nation only recently enjoying the prosperity of peace after years of war, it was a cause for celebration, attracting global attention and the first Royal wedding to receive coverage in fashion magazines such as Vogue (fig. 1).
In 1929 Lord Harewood commissioned Sir Alfred Munnings, the leading equestrian artist of the day, to paint the present work depicting the couple with some of their favourite horses and hounds near their first family home, Goldsborough Hall near Knaresborough in Yorkshire. It was to act as a companion piece to The Bramham Moor Hounds at Weeton Whin, (fig. 2, sold in these Rooms, 11 July 2019, lot 53 for £2,171,250), painted for Viscount Lascelles a few years earlier and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1928.
H.R.H. the Princess Royal on 'Portumna' and the Earl of Harewood, Master of the Bramham Moor Hunt, on 'Tommy' shows Munnings at his finest. By the late 1920s he had perfected the art of the equestrian portrait in the grand country house tradition, having spent the best part of a decade travelling around the country painting the horses and portraits of the British aristocracy. In the present work he has brought all his skills together and unified them into a magnificent testimony to the glamour of nobility of both rider and steed, and the tradition of the hunt.
According to Munnings’ autobiography the Princess and her husband sat for their portraits in his London studio and, as was his practice, he then travelled to Goldsborough Hall to paint the horses, hounds and countryside. He recalled how a ‘darkness overcast the sky for days’ which in characteristic fashion Munnings derided as ‘the smoke of industralisation’. (A.J. Munnings, The Second Burst, London, 1951, p. 225). Goldsborough Hall had formed part of the Harewood estate since 1784, acting as a Dower House, hunting lodge or house for the heir-in-waiting. H.R.H. Princess Mary made a number of changes to the house and grounds, details of which can still be seen today, including stained glass windows on the staircase depicting the union of the Lascelles and Royal Families. In the garden new vistas were created and, to the south east of the formal garden, a copse of Japanese cherry trees was planted: a wedding gift from the Emperor of Japan. Interestingly in the hills on the right hand side of the painting Munnings has painted a prominent white building, which appears to be Harewood House itself (fig. 3). Perhaps he added this detail to reflect the fact that by the time the commission was finished Viscount Lascelles had inherited the title and was now the 6th Earl of Harewood.
Central to the painting is H.R.H. Princess Mary (she was given the title of Princess Royal in 1932 by her father after the death of her aunt Louise), the picture of elegance on her striking dappled grey, Portumna (fig. 4). The horse was a present to the Princess from the hunting women of Ireland on the occasion of her wedding and named after the family’s Irish estate. The grey also featured in the third and final commission Munnings received from the Earl of Harewood, H.R.H. the Princess Royal on her grey horse 'Portumna', (fig. 5, 1931, Harewood House, Yorkshire) which the artist considered his best plein air portrait. Her centrality presented something of a dilemma to the Princess who wrote to Munnings on 4 May 1929 requesting he change the composition as she was worried that ‘you are in danger of putting me in so prominent a position that my husband will appear too much as an accessory’ (unpublished letter from H.R.H. Princess Mary to Sir Alfred Munnings, dated 4 May 1929, Chesterfield House, in the collection of The Munnings Art Museum, Dedham). She also pointed out that as the painting was a companion to the painting of the Bramham Moor hunt servants and hounds, that the ‘Master should be the principal figure or at any rate not subsidiary to any other figure’ (op. cit.). Munnings appears to have heeded her words and reworked the angle of Lord Harewood’s head to ensure that his gaze falls directly on the viewer. However fine the portrait of his face, the eye is still drawn to the elegant figure of his wife and her striking horse. His success at capturing the Princess’ features delighted Munnings, and drew praise from her mother-in-law, the Dowager Countess of Harewood, who on seeing the portrait in Munnings’ studio exclaimed ‘”Don’t touch it again: you have got Mary exactly.”’ (The Second Burst, p. 225).
Munnings had begun painting members of the Royal family in 1920 with the widely-acclaimed portrait of The Prince of Wales on 'Forest Witch' (Royal Academy, 1921, Private Collection). A few years later Queen Mary commissioned The Ascot Procession crossing Windsor Park (Royal Academy, 1926, The Royal Collection), which depicted the royal family returning from the races, and in 1936 Munnings painted his only posthumous portrait, of the late King George V on his white Highland pony, Jock, in Sandringham Park (Ipswich Borough Council Collection). The patronage of the British Royal family cemented Munnings’ reputation as the finest sporting artist of his generation. Munnings, and in particular his wife, Violet, had an eye for self-promotion and it was only to be expected that he chose to exhibit his most important commissions each summer at the Royal Academy. These paintings advertised his skill with the brush and acted as a calling card for any future patrons. It is not surprising therefore that all three of the Harewood Munnings were exhibited at the Academy the year after their completion or that Munnings requested the loan of The Bramham Moor Hounds at Weeton Whin and H.R.H. the Princess Royal on 'Portumna' and the Earl of Harewood, Master of the Bramham Moor Hunt, on 'Tommy' for his 1956 Retrospective at the Royal Academy.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos, the Curatorial staff at The Munnings Museum and Tristram Lewis for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.