In his memoirs, Sir Alfred Munnings recalled one of his favorite paintings, a portrait of a prominent New Jersey family featuring Mrs. Cutting and her daughters, both on horseback, painted in 1935 (Fig. 1), that inspired related canvases: “This picture was one I laid myself out to enjoy. It was a generous commission, and I liked Mrs. Cutting…So taken I was with the arrangement that I repeated almost the same design on another canvas for my own amusement" (Alfred J. Munnings, The Finish, p. 26).

The present work is a study of one of the daughters who, in the larger work, sits sidesaddle on a grey horse. Munnings often made small studies of his subjects to better understand each figure’s position and the play of light on each element of the composition.

We would like to thank Lorian Peralta-Ramos for contributing to this note.