LONDON.- The star lot in Bonhams 19th century European, Victorian and Impressionist Sale in London on June 23rd is Sir Alfred Munnings’ ‘Sketching at Wiston Bridge’, a portrait of his dear friend and fellow artist, Maurice Codner. Estimated at £150,000-250,000, the expressive work is a testament to the friendship between the artist and his sitter - and to Munnings’ masterly technique.

The painting, one of three similar compositions of the same subject, was painted near the village of Nayland on the River Stour, and shows Codner painting en plein air at an easel. Munnings’ autobiography tells the story of how he and Codner first found the spot one September. The two had 'walked in the heat from Nayland to Wiston. Plunging, stark naked, in and out of the river to cool ourselves...when round the bend came a large varnished punt with a colourful, summery party of ladies, quite foreign to us.'

Presumably after having recovered from this incident, Codner ‘sat on rising ground where an old cattle-bridge crossed the stream’, writes Munnings. ‘I took note of him sitting there at work, with the old bridge and willows in the background. Here was a picture!’ In two hours the picture was nearly done – though Munnings had to return to put on the finishing touches with a moody Codner, who was ‘the picture of misery-frustration and rage’ when subsequent visits revealed first that the reeds he had been painting had been cut back, and then that a new military structure had been built by the bridge. ‘For Codner this was the end of everything’; Munnings, though, was far from distraught.

Codner, Munnings’ neighbour in Dedham and ten years his junior, became a portrait painter under Munnings’ influence. Codner went on to enjoy considerable success as a society portraitist, winning the silver medal at the 1954 Paris Salon for a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, but as Munnings wrote, when he met Codner in 1919, ‘He never dreamed of painting chairmen of city companies and mayors in robes in those days.’

Peter Rees, Bonhams specialist in 19th century paintings, said: ‘This exuberant painting shows Munnings at his most informal, painting with great freedom and fluidity. His fondness for the sitter, and his familiarity with the landscape, is evident in this wonderful work.’

Wiston Bridge is not far from Flatford Mill, subject of many of John Constable's most famous works. Perhaps it was with this in mind that the painting was sold in 1971 as ‘Maurice Codner Painting at Flatford Mill’.

Other lots in the sale include a portrait painted in Italy by Frederic, Lord Leighton (estimated at £60,000-80,000); an oil painting by Danish artist Knud Erik Larsen (£40,000-60,000), the quality of which is rarely seen at auctions of his work; and a light-filled painting by Dorothea Sharp (£40,000-60,000), a wonderful example of her unmistakably joyous style. Another Sharp oil painting sold at Bonhams 19th Century European, Victorian and Impressionist sale in January 2015 for £98,500.