Sweethearts and Wives

Catalogue entry

N01552 SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES 1882

Inscr. ‘S. E. Waller 1882’ b.l.
Canvas, 57×79 1/2 (145×202).
Tate Gift 1894.
Coll: Presumably purchased by Henry Tate at the Royal Academy 1882.
Exh: R.A., 1882 (551).
Lit: Walter Armstrong, ‘The Henry Tate Collection IV’ in Art Journal, 1893, p.197, repr.
Repr: Sir Edward J. Poynter, The National Gallery, III, 1900, p.343.

Exhibited at the R.A. with the following note: ‘On the first rumour of impending difficulties between the Scotch and English, the Moss-troopers would sweep swiftly over the country taking every head of cattle within reach - frequently plundering both sides with equal impartiality, and returning to the security of their castles to be welcomed home by their wives and sweethearts, who were nearly as enthusiastic in the matter as themselves.- (Border History).’

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II

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