Sir Alfred Munnings

There is one blatant flaw to the exhibition of works by Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) that has just opened at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket—and that is its lamentable brevity, ending as soon as June 12. Barely less obvious, however, is the aptness of its place in the calendar, incorporating as it does a long holiday weekend in celebration not just of a royal jubilee, but of national culture and (across the Derby and a Lord's Test) sporting tradition. In the words of John Masefield, engraved on the epitaph...

No, not that Munnings. His namesake. The OG. Sir Alfred James Munnings. Six of the painter's works from the estate of the late Betty Moran with an estimated value of between $2.4 to over $3.8 million will be auctioned off at Christie's auction house in New York City, Wednesday, Oct. 13, at 11 a.m. Munnings, the most renowned English sporting artist of the 20th Century, was known for his exceptional equine art, which has brought prices of over $7 million at auction. The six pieces are lots 32-27 in the...