Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Chantrey Bequest
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-alfred-munnings-1680" aria-label="More by Sir Alfred Munnings" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Alfred Munnings</a>
Their Majesties Return Ascot
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1937
adults
animals: mammals
Berkshire
carriage
domestic
Edward VIII, King
England
England, South East
England, Southern
footman
George V, King
George VI, King
groups
horse
king
man
Mary, Queen
named individuals
people
places
portraits
queen
royalty and social rank
society
transport: land
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
Windsor, Windsor Great Park
woman
work and occupations
<p>One of the leading traditional painters of his generation, Munnings was best known for his horse paintings. This depicts George V and Queen Mary, with the future kings Edward VIII and George VI, returning to Windsor Castle after attending Ascot races. Munnings became a Royal Academician in 1925, and recalled that he wished to ‘make an ambitious effort’: this ‘ten-footer’, as he called it, was the result. Munnings consciously invited comparison with earlier British artists, not least with Constable’s ‘six-footers’. This picture was painted partly out of doors, with the horses and the carriage done from life.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
Their Majesties’ Return from Ascot
support: 1480 × 2445 mm
frame: 1734 × 2698 × 105 mm
Presented by the Trustees of the <a href="/search?gid=999999977" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Chantrey Bequest</a> 1937
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<p>One of the leading traditional painters of his generation, Munnings was best known for his horse paintings. This depicts George V and Queen Mary, with the future kings Edward VIII and George VI, returning to Windsor Castle after attending Ascot races. Munnings became a Royal Academician in 1925, and recalled that he wished to ‘make an ambitious effort’: this ‘ten-footer’, as he called it, was the result. Munnings consciously invited comparison with earlier British artists, not least with Constable’s ‘six-footers’. This picture was painted partly out of doors, with the horses and the carriage done from life.</p>
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2016-09-06T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N04956</b> THEIR MAJESTIES' RETURN FROM ASCOT 1925</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘A. J. Munnings’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 58 1/4×96 1/4 (148×244·5), including 11 1/4 (28·5) added on r.
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1937.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1926 (97); Venice Biennale, 1928 (97); R.A., 1938 (543); Bournemouth, April–June 1955 (809); R.A. Diploma Gallery, March–June 1956 (86).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> <i>The Second Burst</i>, 1951, pp.268–76, repr. facing p.265; Reginald Pound, <i>The Englishman</i>. <i>A Biography of Sir Alfred Munnings</i>, 1962, pp.102–3.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Apollo</i>, VIII, 1928, p.84 (original state); Lindsay, 1939, pl.36 (detail of original state); Hesketh Hubbard, <i>A Hundred Years of British Painting, 1851–1951</i>, 1951, pl.97.</p>
<p>Painted in the summer of 1925 from recollections of the royal processions on the four days of the Ascot races, coupled with the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of individual elements of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> from the life in Windsor Park, the picture being painted a part at a time; only the finishing-off was done in the artist's London studio. A number of changes were made in the background and in the position of the signature between the work's first showings in the late 1920s and its purchase in 1937. The large painting was preceded by a smaller preliminary version in which the procession is seen from slightly ahead and the trees extend farther across the background (30×40 in.; Lord Fairhaven collection; repr. Lindsay, <i>op. cit.</i>, pl.70, and <i>The Second Burst</i>, facing p.280).</p>
<p>These works arose from a commission from Queen Mary which resulted in the painting of another Ascot scene, ‘The Procession crossing the Park’ (repr. <i>The Second Burst,</i> facing p.265). Also shown at the R.A. in 1926 was ‘The Royal Carriage waiting for Their Majesties at Duke's Lane, Windsor Park, on Ascot Gold Cup Day’.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-06T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults animals: mammals Berkshire carriage domestic Edward VIII, King England England, South East England, Southern footman George VI, King George V, King groups horse king man Mary, Queen named individuals people places portraits queen royalty and social rank society transport: land UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions Windsor, Windsor Great Park woman work and occupations