A study of a male nude in Julian's atelier, Paris 1902
oil on canvas
32.4" x 26" (82.4 cm x 66.0 cm)

Painted 1902. Alfred Munnings (1878-1959). The Sir Alfred Munnings Musuem, Dedham, Essex.

Munnings seems an odd artist. This painting is about as good a piece of work as any he produced, and yet it was done when he was twenty-four and still a student. As he matured, he devoted most of his time to painting sporting scenes, hounds and horses, which made his reputation and his fortune. Stanley Barker and the Pytchley Hounds (below) is typical of Munnings' sporting paintings. Munnings was knighted and for a while President of the Royal Academy. Perhaps it was getting married in 1920 that did him in. His wife said of him,

"He was never such a good artist after he married me. He had establishments to keep up and more expenses to meet. It meant painting for money."

Pity poor Alfred.