An original oil painting by William Hole went under the hammer (8th September, 2011) but failed to sell. Described as: “Straggler from Chevalier’s Army, is signed and dated 1888. Guide price: £4k-£6k.”
Our own research has identified a similar painting, A Straggler of the Chevalier’s Army, was in fact exhibited by Hole at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1880. It was described by Wilfrid Meynell (1897) as: ‘”A Straggler from the Chevalier’s Army,” is a singularly vivid incident of the past – a passage of life which the artist would almost seem to have witnessed, so much familiarity and activity is there in his conception of the accidents of the scene. A wounded Highlander is attacked by the tagrag of an English village, and turns at bay. Here, too, the quality of movement is remarkable.’