Description:

Munnings, Sir Alfred James (British, 1878-1959)
Mr. Sponge, the Raspers Taking!
Pencil, 8 1/2" x 10" , Signed, inscribed

Provenance: The Sporting Gallery Inscribed: “Mr. Sponge the raspers taking, sets the junkers’ nerves a quaking!” Incident from “Mr. Sponge’s Sporting Tour” by Surtees: “Sponge, with increased confidence, rose in his stirrups, easing the redoubtable Hercules; and patting him on the shoulder, at the same time that he gave him the gentlest possible touch of the spur, exclaimed, ‘By the powers, we’ll show these old Flat Hats the trick!’ He then commenced humming: Mister Sponge, the raspers taking, Sets the junkers’ nerves a shaking; and riding cheerfully on, he at length found himself on the confines of a wild rough-looking moor, with an undulating range of hills in the distance.” —R. S. Surtees In his autobiography An Artist’s Life, The Finish (page 314), Munnings speaks about his fondness for Surtees character Mr. Sponge: “I greet Surtees to-day in all my rooms. Editions of ‘Sponge’ are in my Chelsea home and here. I can call him up at any moment without picking up his Sporting Tour. He is here now...in his tall hat, with his all-around beard and shaved mouth and chin; a horsey, unscrupulous fellow who took life as it came...wearing a strong, short-tailed, doubleseamed scarlet coat, white ribbed cords and dark mahogany tops to his boots. Lord Scamperdale’s pet aversion... ‘That brown-booted abomination!!...That rattlesnake!’ ”

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November 13, 2025 4:00 PM EST
Lexington, KY, US

Cross Gate Gallery

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