The departure of the hop pickers
(c. 1913)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
91.5 × 101.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1923
© Estate of Alfred Munnings/DACS, London. Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Alfred Munnings painted the gypsy families living in the Hampshire countryside over a six-week period in 1913. The gypsies had arrived with their horse-drawn caravans for the hop-picking season. Munnings recalled in his memoirs, An Artist’s Life (1950): ‘Never in my life have I been so filled with a desire to work as I was then ... Mrs. Loveday posed in all her finery for this picture, holding a black horse. In the centre Mark Stevens was harnessing a white horse to a blue, Romany-looking, ship-shaped caravan. Children and dogs were in the foreground … What days! What models!’
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in black paint l.r.: A.J. Munnings.
Accession Number
1285-3
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Agriculture Human Figures Travel
Subjects (specific)
children (people by age group) departures gypsy wagons harvesters (people in agriculture) horse (species) travellers (people by activity) United Kingdom (nation) women (female humans)
Provenance
Sold by the artist to Francis Henry Crittall (1860–1935), 1919; his collection, Braintree, Essex and Birmingham, until (c. 1923); by whom sold, to an unknown Bond Street dealer, (c. 1923); exhibited European Art Exhibition for Australia, Town Hall, Sydney and Athenaeum, Melbourne, 1923, no. 99[1]; from where purchased, by L. Bernard Hall, for the Felton Bequest, 1923[2].
[1] See Woman’s Melbourne Letter, Western Mail, Perth, Thursday 6 December 1923, p. 36, accessed via http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37635041
[2] Purchased with Edgard Maxence’s Rosa Mystica (1890s) (1286-3).
Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1920, no. 245, lent by F. H. Crittall; European Art Exhibition for Australia , Town Hall, Sydney and Athenaeum, Melbourne,1923, no. 99.
Frame
Original, by Chapman Bros., London
Frame
The frame is an example of the hybrid styles emerging from the nineteenth century. Loosely based on the Queen Anne style bolection frame, it uses corner embellishments that cross between rococo and neo-classical, all on a reduced scale, particularly on the width. Nevertheless, the frame forms a harmonious relationship with the painting.
Frame Details
Framemaker
Chapman Bros.
London
Date
(1913)
Materials
The profile of the frame is cut from a single piece of wood, which is mitred at the corners and joined to a back-frame which is lap-joined. The inner and outer edges carry small composition borders. The corners are elaborated with scrolled leaf forms and small cabochons. The frame is finished in false gold and ormolu size.
Frame Condition
The frame appears to be in good original condition throughout.
Dimensions
103.5 x 113.8 x 6.5 cm; sight 90.4 x 100.5 cmMore Information
National Portrait Gallery