No, not that Munnings. His namesake. The OG. Sir Alfred James Munnings.
Six of the painter's works from the estate of the late Betty Moran with an estimated value of between $2.4 to over $3.8 million will be auctioned off at Christie's auction house in New York City, Wednesday, Oct. 13, at 11 a.m.
Munnings, the most renowned English sporting artist of the 20th Century, was known for his exceptional equine art, which has brought prices of over $7 million at auction. The six pieces are lots 32-27 in the European Art sale.
They are:
Shrimp Leading Ponies Across the Ringland Hills, Norfolk, estimated to sell for between $300,000-$500,000
A Park Meeting, The Eclipse Stakes, Sandown Park ($200,000-$300,000)
Study of a Jockey in the Duke of Westminster's Colors ($15,000-$20,000)
After the Race, Cheltenham ($700,000-$1,000,000)
Who's The Lady, and Two Studies ($800,000-$1.2 million)
The Seventh Earl of Bathurst, W.F.H. of the V.H.W., with Will Boore, Huntsman ($400,000-$600,000)
View the entire catalogue of European art here, or download the Moran catalogue here.
“To have a collection of this quality and diversity is rare,” said Deborah Coy, the Senior Vice President and Head of the Department of European Art at Christie's. “It's unique in that. A lot of people will collect racing, or they'll collect hunting, or equestrian portraits. This encompasses all of that.”
Shrimp Leading Ponies Across the Ringland Hills, Norfolk, is expected to fetch up to $500,000
Elizabeth 'Betty' Ranney Moran, who raced the likes of 1985 GI Belmont S. winner Creme Fraiche and bred champion Unique Bella and Hard Spun, passed away at her home in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Jan. 23, 2020, at the age of 89.
Moran grew up on Brushwood Farm, then a dairy farm, in Willistown Township, Pennsylvania, and was said to love farm life and animals of any kind. She won her first stakes race in 1978, and achieved her biggest success seven years later when Creme Fraiche took his Classic. Almost 20 years later, she would win the GI Arlington Million with Kicken Kris.
“She was probably the most generous person I've ever met, not to just write a check, but to ring a bell for the Salvation Army in downtown Philly,” said Reiley McDonald, her equine advisor for over 30 years, at the time of her death. “She was a tough, enthusiastic, hard-driving woman and we will all miss her very much.”
The collection runs from a Norfolk landscape featuring a collection of the artist's ponies (Shrimp Leading Ponies), to a paddock scene at Sandown (A Park Meeting), to a jockey study, to a post-steeplechase scene (After the Race), to what is expected to be the star of the collection, Who's the Lady. The latter depicts Queen Elizabeth II's aunt, Princess Mary, at a hunt. Originally a smaller canvas, it is inscribed by Munnings, “This was smaller canvas with HRH Princess Mary on grey that I put aside or a larger one s shown in this Exhibition with Lord Harewood and the Bramham Moor Hounds. In 1946, I had the canvas relined and enlarged, making the figure of HRH into the central figure (Lucy Glitters) and then surrounding her with members of the Nonsuch Hunt as now seen lady.”
Munnings died in 1959, and had kept this painting himself until at least 1956.
“These pictures really do speak for themselves,” said Coy. “We sent a selection to London to be viewed, and one out to Southampton, and they're very well received, everywhere. Munnings has an appeal in both sides of the pond, which is a very important thing about this art. Many racing art collectors are just English buyers, but not so with Munnings. He has a very strong American following, as well.”
Munnings's work, of course, has often found a home with racing people like Moran. But it's the scope of his equine subjects that makes him so interesting, and lasting.
Said Coy, “I think he is one of the more interesting of the equestrian artists, because he does do a wide range of equestrian subjects. They're just beautiful. And his racing scenes are spectacular. The breadth of his subject matter is extraordinary.”
It seems a bit ironic that just this week, two of racing's most prominent art collectors, Peter Brant and John Magnier, bought into a Munnings of their own with their purchase of a piece of Jack Christopher, who heads next to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile as one of the top choices.
But then, racing and art have always had a certain synchronicity, and it wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone if some–if not all–of these works ended up in the hands of someone every bit as revered in racing as Betty Moran.
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