Munnings art subject of study

In conjunction with its exhibition, "Reflections on a Life with Horses: Paintings by Sir Alfred Munnings from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art," the National Sporting Library in Middleburg will host a full-day symposium on Saturday, Feb. 9.

Royal Academician Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) is among the most renowned painters of equestrian and sporting subjects of the 20th century. The exhibition at the Library, curated by Elizabeth Manierre, is part of an international commemoration of the 100th birthday of art collector, philanthropist and sportsman Paul Mellon (1907-1999.)

Mellon, who lived in Upperville, was an avid collector of Munnings’ paintings, many of which he gave to the Yale Center for British Art. The exhibition is on view at the library through March.

The symposium features lectures by four art historians followed by a panel discussion and reception. Speakers include Mitchell Merling (Paul Mellon curator, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts), Diane Roe (director, Sir Alfred Munnings Museum), Angus Trumble (curator, Yale Center for British Art) and Lorian Peralta-Ramos.

Seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Early registration is encouraged. The cost is $50 with a $30 discounted fee for students. For more information and to receive a registration brochure, call (540) 687-6542.

The National Sporting Library is a non-lending research library open to the general public. Its 16,000-book collection covers a wide range of horse and field sports, including foxhunting, polo, coaching, shooting, angling and Thoroughbred racing. It also includes biographies of sporting enthusiasts, newly-published fiction and non-fiction, current and back issues of periodicals, and scores of rare editions housed in the F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Room. (The earliest editions date to the 1520s.) Films, magazine articles, and unpublished papers — diaries, scrapbooks, and manuscripts —round out its offerings. The Library also houses many works of sporting art, including paintings, sculpture and such Americana as weather vanes donated by Mellon.