Gypsy and ponies

It is highly probable that the figure in the present work depicts Shrimp, the subject of many works from this period. Munnings illustrates a similar composition titled 'Painting of Shrimp riding along the ridge of Ringland Hills' in An Artist's Life, London, 1950, between pp.168 and 169. He explained the composition, 'In 1910 ... I planned another, longer and more serious painting expedition to Ringland. The gorse was in bloom; to hesitate was foolish. The next Saturday, my inner self persuading me that action was the thing, I found Drake in his usual haunts near the Bell Hotel. Then for twenty pounds I bought a beautiful old white Welsh mare with a long, curly mane and tail and an Arab-looking countenance. Her muzzle was blue-black, the same tint surrounded her patient eye ... I bought her as a model, and she certainly was a good one. My next deal was a little dark-brown Dartmoor mare, fat and round, with flowing mane and tail for five pounds. Then I bought a bay yearling colt and a small, dun-coloured horse, to encourage Drake to take an interest in what I was determined to do with such purpose and hurry' (see Sir A. Munnings, An Artist's Life, London, 1950, p.213).