NORMAN REDMAYNE (Letters, January 27) says that Sir Alfred Munnings' early work displayed his real talent and he derides the painting of Solario, now hidden away on a high, dark corner of Blackburn Museum, as 'skilled illustration' and 'slick.'

I would always bow to Mr Redmayne's much superior knowledge of art and admit that the general view of Munnings' work is indeed that the best of it was from the period before the First World War. Munnings himself didn't subscribe to this view, however. "There is no sophistry about them," he said. "They were done in my twenties, before I had learned the wiles and tricks which artists are supposed to know."

My favourite Munnings, incidentally, are the vast The Coming Storm (1910), ponies against a black sky, and Pike Fishing in January (1899), a study of patience in yellows and browns. But Solario is in the photo-finish.

Horses were the love of his life, but his fame is based on his paintings of racehorses - even though he had never painted a thoroughbred before 1920.

Mr Redmayne seems to disapprove of the later commissions for wealthy patrons but, as Munnings' wife, Violet, wrote: "He had establishments to keep up and more expenses to meet. It meant painting for money."

Sir Joshua Reynolds, for one, spent his life on commissions - more than 100 sitters in one year!

My point about the disgraceful treatment of Solario was that it is not only a local treasure, but with local connections. Owner Sir John Rutherford lived at Beardwood, Blackburn and was MP for Darwen for 27 years. Munnings' delightful early paintings of horse fairs, Welsh cobs, gipsy lads and hop-pickers don't have as much local interest.

As for Mrs C Taylor (Letters, January 28), might I just say that Solario has not simply been 'moved.' It has been buried.

HAROLD HEYS, Derby Close, Darwen.

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