Estimates for both paintings are decidedly conservative: The Grey Mare and Chestnut Foal, 1903, oil on canvas, 40 x 56 cm, is estimated at AU$60,000 to AU$100,000.
The more important The Ford, 1910, also an oil on canvas and slightly smaller at 34.5 x 45 cm, is from the very important series of Ford paintings and priced at AU$150,000 to AU$300,000.
The record price at auction for a work by Alfred Munnings was set by Sotheby’s in May 2004 in New York for ‘The Red Prince Mare’, 1921, selling for a hammer price of US$ 7 million.
Sotheby’s New York sold Crossing the Ford, 1911, another - very similarly sized - work from the same series in November 2011, for a very pleasing US$760,000 hammer price.
There have been a number of successful sales of Munnings’ work here in Australia, as figures from the AASD show. Most notably, Deutscher-Menzies offered and sold successfully in June 2006 The Grey Mare c.1914, for a hammer price of AU$220,000.
The previous highest price in Australia for a work by Munnings was for the pencil drawing Tiberius, Winner of the Ascot Gold Cup, 1935, which Goodman Auctioneers sold in May 2002 for AU$32,500.
Interest in the art of Alfred Munnings has increased significantly in the USA, Canada and the UK in recent years.
As works created from 1898 to 1914 are generally considered to be the best by the artist, all eyes will be on these two important paintings that have surfaced in Sydney and are now offered for the first time in decades. It is clear that most of those eyes will be looking from far afield.
