'Lord Strathcona's Horse on the March', 1918

Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right 'A J Munnings 1918', by Alfred (later Sir Alfred) James Munnings (1878-1959), 1918.

This lively painting shows Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), a regiment in the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, on campaign in France during World War One (1914-1918). Strathcona's Horse had been founded in 1900 at the personal expense of Donald Smith, Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal (1820-1914), for service in the Boer War (1899-1902). Here, some troopers can be seen, trotting through the bleak, muddy landscape of the Western Front, which conveys something of the harsh conditions suffered by horses as well as men in this campaign.

Unable to serve in the armed forces due to a pre-war accident which left him blind in one eye, Munnings was nevertheless keen to make a contribution to the war effort. This canvas was painted while he was the Official Artist attached to the Canadian Cavalry Brigade in France, as part of Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund scheme to record the dominion's wartime achievements.

Following his wartime experiences Munnings became renowned for his brilliant equestrian portraits. He was one of England's most popular painters who, in 1944, was knighted and elected President of the Royal Academy, a post he held until his retirement five years later.

A close variant of this work exists in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, one of 44 paintings that the Canadian War Memorials Fund handed over to the Government in 1920. It forms part of the country's memorial to the 60,000 Canadians who died in World War One.

Purchased with the assistance of the Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund or NACF).