The Munnings Art Museum

The Grey Horse, Ned Osborne on Grey Tick goes on display at Munnings Art Museum, Dedham

Grandson of Munnings’ groom and model visits artist’s former home to see famous painting and share memories of Ned Osborne

One of Sir Alfred Munnings’ most famous and instantly recognisable paintings has gone on display in the artist’s former home in Dedham, Essex. The Grey Horse, Ned Osborne on Grey Tick is kindly on loan from a private collector and is regarded as one of Munnings’s most romantic and evocative paintings.

The Grey Horse, Ned Osborne on Grey Tick, c1913

The composition is dominated by the impressive grey mare, Grey Tick, with the artist’s model and groom, Ned Osborne riding him bareback, with a fair at Zennor on the north coast of Cornwall in the background. One of the first people to see the painting on display was a true VIP, none other than Ned’s grandson, John Osborne.

“We were delighted to welcome John to the museum and to show him around the rooms and galleries and, of course, we couldn’t wait to show him the painting. This was the first time John had ever seen it ‘in the flesh’” explains Munnings Art Museum Director, Jenny Hand.

“We talked a lot about John’s grandfather, Ned, and he also told us more about his wider family. Ned, who was a hard-working young man, was extremely proud to be part of Munnings’ world and to model for him on so many occasions. When Ned and Munnings parted company at the beginning of the First World War, Ned went off to Wales and worked as a coal miner” Jenny adds

Grey Tick was an enduring favourite of the artist and is evocatively described by Lionel Lindsay in his 1939 book A.J. Munnings, R.A. Pictures of Horses and English life: “How powerfully the Grey Horse moves, thrown by a low horizon high against the shadows of the massed cumuli, whose lit summits echo the lights of the body. The warm reflections from the belly and the cold reflections from the sky on neck and shoulders give to the literal movement of the animal a sense of actual movement in space.”

The connection between Munnings and Ned Osborne was made when the artist moved to Lamorna, in Cornwall in 1913. The artist described meeting Osborne in the first instalment of his autobiography: “My stables and studio at Lamorna were all in one; the studio, a large converted loft with a skylight, was above the stables. I found a new lad, a primitive Cornish youth. Ned was the name of this simple soul, who grew into a useful combination of groom-model, and posed for many a picture.”

The painting on display at the Munnings Art Museum is the largest and most detailed version of several that he painted of Osborne astride Grey Tick, as he described in his autobiography: “There were many other sketches and studies made at Zennor, one with Ned on the grey mare against the sky, not in the scarlet coat but with bare arms and shirt sleeves, and riding bare-back at a fair. This was bought later for a Gallery in Australia; and after the war I finished a much larger version, begun at Zennor, called The Grey Horse. Good, patient Grey Tick! I have often thought of her since, and how she helped my account at the bank.”

Much praised for his patience by the artist, it was also Ned’s skin tone and physique that suggested that he was ideally suited for equestrian paintings featuring hunting clothes, especially a scarlet coat and black cap.

When the First World War began in 1914, neither Munnings or Ned were accepted for front line duty in the War. Munnings initially continued to paint in Cornwall before enlisting with the Remounts, based at Calcot Park, near Reading while the short stature of Ned made him ideal for working in the coal mines of Wales, to serve the war effort.

Jenny Hand and John Osborne

Visiting the Munnings Art Museum specially to see the painting, Ned’s grandson John Osborne explained what happened after the Armistice: “He left the coal mines at Penrhiwceiber (Pentreceiber in the English derivation) near Abercynon in South Wales with his father, several brothers, and two sons, Thomas and my father John. His mother having passed away in the village in 1918. Returning to Cornwall, Ned acquired a small farm near Pendeen and not far from Zennor, where he lived until the 1960s. Horses were always in evidence on the farm, more for pleasure, as tractors took over the workload. He retired to a house at Sancreed, later moving to a retirement cottage in the village of Newbridge. He passed away in 1984, aged 93.”

Mr Osborne added: “I was born in the village of Newbridge back in 1949 and because that part of Cornwall was very poor in those days my father moved us in the mid-1950s to Hertfordshire, where my mother’s parents lived. So, I only saw my grandfather when we went to Cornwall every year on holiday, or during his rare visits to us in Hertfordshire.”

Describing how he felt seeing Ned on Grey Tick, John said: “Visiting the museum was a wonderful experience for me and as I walked in the front door it was thrilling to see the painting for the first time, right in front of me. I always remember him dressed very similarly to that in the painting, the only thing missing was his cap which was a permanent fixture on his head in his later life. I would like to thank Jenny and her colleague Marcia Whiting, for making my visit a special day in my life.”

Photograph of Ned riding Grey Tick 1913

Ned and his wife in the 1950s

The owner of the painting, John Innes, said: “I am delighted that the Grey Horse is on display at the Munnings Art Museum.  My grandfather was a great admirer and personal friend of Munnings.  He purchased a number of paintings from him of which the Grey Horse was his absolute pride.  He would have been pleased to have had the opportunity to buy it and as he was a rich man then filling Munnings’ account at the bank would have been a pleasure.”

Tonight a ‘pink’ supermoon will brighten up the night sky over Dedham. April’s full moon is known as the ‘pink moon’ not for its colour, but after pink phlox flowers that bloom in the springtime. In Path to the Orchard, a cluster of phlox flowers can be seen in the foreground of the picture. Munnings writes of both full moons and phlox flowers in his autobiography:

“I looked into the sun doing this. A girl in white linen hat and apron leading him across the picture along the path by the river at Mendham. Clumps of white and crimson phlox in the garden were the foreground; blue water, trees and the lawn fence on the far bank the background.”

“…One night, going home at a merry trot, singing “Landlord, fill the flowing bowl”, my steed shied at the full moon reflected in a puddle of water, and left me sitting in the road. But my glad song went on as I did the remainder of the journey on foot, as jolly as ever, and found the riderless, foolish mare waiting outside her stable. Happy, pleasant, far-off days!”

Sir Alfred Munnings, An Artist’s Life 1950.

This week spring has sprung at Castle House! Cherry blossom and daffodils have bloomed in the museum garden.

“This left-hand turning was the best of all our walks, for it led on to footpaths by spinneys, and in the spring a strong scent of violets pervaded one particular bank. This scent came from white violets. Why we should, each spring, go to that spot, anticipating the delicious smell, and why there should be intense excitement in plucking those rare and hidden flowers, I can’t imagine, but it was always the same each season. If I went there next spring, all the years in between would fade away”

Sir Alfred Munnings, An Artist’s Life, 1950.

“Zennor, on the north coast of Cornwall, not far from St. Ives, was at that time a primitive and un-spoilt village.

…The morning after our arrival, the humble Ned, to the surprise of Mrs. Griggs, appeared in white cord breeches and top boots, and at about 9.30 a.m., riding Grey Tick, with a mackintosh to hide his scarlet coat, he came towards me up the hill where I was already planted with easel, canvas and box. This was a start. What could be better?  …A grey sky; a boulder, strewn hill, with flat spaces of grey granite showing amongst the heather-clad sides sloping down to the moor below. Beyond that undulating moors, fields and stone walls. Farther away, Guava Cairn, grey against the yet paler grey of the faint distant horizon beyond Morvah, and through all this the Land’s End road curving away out of sight. Coming up the hill with hounds was Ned on the grey, the scarlet coat in low tones, the black velvet cap the darkest note of colour a splendid subject.

…Another picture, was of Ned on the grey at the top of Zennor Hill near a hoary pile of granite rocks, which those who know Zennor and the moors will easily recall if ever they read this. The picture was called “An April Fox”.The whip is stationed at the top of the hill, from where he can see the country below, while lower down the hill are figures on foot, holding their hats in the air and pointing. The whip looks away into the country and the mare stands like a statue, her ears pricked. I worked looking into the April sunlight, which lit the back, loins and mane of the mare, surrounding Ned’s coat with a flaming, scarlet light.”

Sir Alfred Munnings, An Artist’s Life, 1950.

“First, Anarchist, height sixteen and a half hands the best I ever rode a bold, clever, un- assuming and well-mannered horse, with a calm outlook on life. All jumps came alike to him, and he never gave me a fall. Bred in Normandy, schooled by a Saumur instructor, he was jumping more than six feet in French competitions as a four-year-old.

…Then Rufus, fifteen and a half hands, a strong, healthy brute, a chestnut with a white blaze and a head and crest like an Arab stallion one of the best. Cheena next, my wife’s old friend and companion. Sweet, kindly, long-suffering Cheena, with large ears, a kind eye and a beautiful forelock and mane. I love her. Then come two half-sisters, Winter Rose and Cherrybounce.

Dear Cheena, a Bay Hunter. 1943.

I bred these two from a Red Prince mare that my wife used to hunt in the Whaddon. The first, a lovely dark brown mare.

…Anyhow, I’ve ridden her and used her as a model since she was foaled sixteen years ago, and she has more quality and beauty than many of the swell winners I’ve painted.

Her half-sister, Cherrybounce, goes back on her sire’s side to Fowling-piece. A year younger than Rose, a big, upstanding bay, sixteen and a half hands, with a white star on her forehead, a strong back and loin, thick, curly mane and tail, and good constitution. She’s what you call a goer, and takes some holding; the best over a gate I’ve ever ridden.

…As one of many models, Cherrybounce has helped to run the show.

Cherrybounce

These five horses, with one called The Lizard, lent out, are all I have left of seventeen when war began. The rest are over the Styx now, but not enjoying a happier life, for they were happy with me. They could even choose their own paddocks.”

Sir Alfred Munnings, An Artist’s Life, 1950.