Oil Battle Portrait Runaway Horses | WWI Western Front Charleroi Great Retreat By Edith A. Simkins

 Edith A. Simkins (1870–1949) — Runaway Horses (1939) | WWI Western Front (Charleroi / Great Retreat)

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🪖 Subject & Medium
A large, dramatic early-WWI cavalry retreat scene, believed to depict French Dragoons, during the opening Western Front campaign (Aug–Sep 1914), in the Charleroi era of the Great Retreat.
Medium: Oil on canvas. 🖌️🐎
Identification is offered as historical context based on visual interpretation; the painting is not inscribed to a specific engagement.

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🎨 Composition & Technique
Simkins structures the work as an “after” moment—flight and rupture rather than heroic charge—giving the painting an unusually modern emotional weight. The central chestnut horse surges forward in full panic: the anatomy is convincingly modelled, tack is carefully described, and the posture communicates urgency and fear.
To the right, a white horse rears, creating a vertical shock that spikes the drama, while riderless mounts push through smoke and dust into the middle distance. The damaged ground and broken treeline intensify the atmosphere of pressure and retreat.
What distinguishes this from decorative military imagery is the narrative decision: no riders remain. Empty saddles and scattered kit make the horses the protagonists—witnesses of catastrophe—so the picture reads as a psychological study of conflict and survival.

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⚔️ Battle Context (interpretive)
The scene is believed to evoke the opening Western Front phase of WWI—late August 1914—often discussed in connection with Charleroi and the unfolding Great Retreat. Rather than depicting the charge itself, Simkins concentrates on the moment when cavalry tradition collides with modern firepower and the outcome becomes flight, loss, and disarray—an interpretation consistent with the alternate historic title “After the Charge.”

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🏛️ Historical Significance

• Scale & ambition: recorded as a substantial oil on canvas—more “statement” work than minor cabinet picture.

• Rare WWI narrative emphasis: the aftermath is centred through riderless horses and abandoned kit—psychologically powerful and comparatively scarce on the market.

• Painted in 1939: created on the threshold of another world war; reads as interwar reflection as Europe tipped again into conflict.

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👩🎨 About the Artist
Edith Alice Simkins is documented as a member/exhibitor of the Ipswich Art Club (1935–1949). The same record notes that in 1943 she exhibited an oil titled “After the Charge,” supporting the historic alternate title within her documented oeuvre.
Her market visibility is reinforced by appearances at major venues, including Christie’s, which has offered a signed Simkins oil (A Bay Hunter, dated 1921).

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✍️ Signed
Signed “E. A. Simkins” and dated 1939 in the lower corner.

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🖼️ Framed
Presented in a traditional gilt frame—period-respectful and collector-appropriate, with strong wall presence.

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📏 Dimensions (Framed)

• Height: 87 cm

• Width: 137 cm

• Depth: 4 cm

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🧾🔗 Provenance & Market Trail (known record)

• 1939 — Painted by Edith Alice Simkins; recorded in artist references as Runaway Horses (oil on canvas, 73.7 × 124.5 cm). (suffolkartists)

• 1943 — Exhibition activity record lists an oil titled After the Charge (alternate title usage). (suffolkartists)

• 1949–2012 — Private ownership (untraced in public record).

• 13 Jul 2012 — Market record via MutualArt: Runaway Horses (1939), oil on canvas, 29 × 49 in, signed (sale details subscriber-only). (MutualArt)

• 30 Jun 2021 — Reeman Dansie: offered under alternate title After the Charge (paired lot); catalogue note states it is believed these works were exhibited with Ipswich Art Club in 1942 and 1943.

• 25 Jan 2022 — Hatton Garden Auctions Ltd (London) via The Saleroom: catalogued as “LARGE OIL PAINTING OF BATTLE SCENE BY E A SIMKINS 1939”; approx. frame size 53.5" × 34". Purchased from Hatton Garden Auctions Ltd. (The Saleroom)

• 28 May 2023 — MutualArt After the Charge entry lists a sale date and shows NY Elizabeth Auction in “Recent Lots.” (MutualArt)

• 2022–present — Curated by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD (specialist selection, documentation, and presentation).

Collector note: Auction platforms and market databases do not typically publish buyer identities; therefore, named collectors cannot be responsibly claimed from these records alone.

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🏛️📜 Exhibition History

• Ipswich Art Club (1935–1949) — Simkins documented as member/exhibitor. (suffolkartists)

• ✅ 1943 (final phrasing): Exhibited at the Ipswich Art Club, Suffolk — Runaway Horses (exhibited under the title “After the Charge”). (suffolkartists)

• Famous Lord Hill Museum January 2026 in WW1 battles series

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🇺🇸✨ Why You’ll Love It

• Museum-scale presence: over 4.5 ft wide framed—commands a room

• True narrative power: not generic pageantry; the psychologically intense after moment

• Equestrian excellence: anatomy, tack, speed, fear—convincingly captured

• Cross-collector appeal: WWI / military history + sporting/equestrian art + interwar British narrative painting

• Confidence factors: signed/dated, documented artist record, exhibition linkage, traceable auction trail

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🧪 Condition Report
Offered in fine used condition, commensurate with age:

• Painting surface shows areas of paint loss/flaking, scuffs, foxing/staining, and surface scratches in places

• Frame shows general wear, minor chips/scuffs, and evidence of historic touch-up/overpainting consistent with age and handling
  (Please review photos carefully; additional close-ups available on request.)