Sir Alfred James Munnings was perhaps the finest equestrian artist of his era, elected president of the Royal Academy in 1944. He was engaged by Lord Beaverbrook’s Canadian War Memorials Fund and painted a number of works in France during the first world war, leading to several prestigious commissions that made him wealthy. Between 1912 and 1914 he was a member of the Newlyn School, where he befriended artists like Laura and Harold Knight. Born in Suffolk, he settled in Dedham where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. Today, his finest hunting and equestrian paintings sell for millions of pounds.
