Title - Evening at The Ford

Artist - Sir Alfred James Munnings

In July 1910 Munnings and his caravan left Ringland Hills and travelled through Norfolk via Swainsthorpe to Hoxne in Suffolk, in search of new painting grounds. There, in picturesque riverside meadows, Munnings alternated between painting bright-weather and grey-weather canvases depending on the conditions. 'On grey days my subject was by the shallow edge of the millstream, where farm-horses watered ... The grey-weather subject I prepared for was The Ford - grey water and dark reflections broken by lines of the current. Again what a subject! ... Standing on rising ground, looking down on the leading ponies coming out of the water, I spaced the design - cutting out the sky - using the distant country for the top portion of the picture. Ponies, water, reflections, filled the rest of the space'. He wrote of his frustration when the sun shone, 'A grey ceiling of cloud - calm, serene - all was well. Then that ceiling would begin to break - silvery fissures appeared, the sun shone! Who is to describe the misery of seeing such complete, relentless transformation of everything?'.