Riding bareback

The boy in the present work appears to be a gypsy or a hop-picker. Both of these were familiar subjects for Munnings who used them in a large number of paintings, epitomising his Romantic image of pre-industrial, pre-war England. It is possible that the boy may be the same character as depicted walking near the left edge in Arrival at Epsom Downs for Derby Week (City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham), a larger canvas (40 x 51 in.) which was painted in 1920 (see S. Booth, Sir Alfred Munnings 1878-1959, London, 1978, pp.118-119).