The horse fair

Early in his career, Munnings painted many country scenes of farm sales and horse fairs. 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).
In many of these early paintings one sees the red-wheeled gig, the striped tents, and caravans, as well as the many local characters whom Munnings loved to paint.