Title - Under Starter’s Orders

Artist - Sir Alfred James Munnings

Sir Alfred Munnings paintings of racing starts where mostly worked-on at Newmarket where he had a rubbing-house converted into a studio. The start, before the introduction of starting stalls for flat racing, particularly challenged his ability to capture movement as the riders jockeyed for position. He wrote `The grouping, the movement-colour, all dependent on the lighting; the sky. Orange satin, cerise and white, blue and yellow, emerald green – a large field, waiting, waiting, regrouping. At each start, determined to retain the picture in my mind.