Overall: 76cm (30in) x 45cm (18in)
Oil on canvas. Full length study of a Trooper of the Royal Scots Greys dressed in stable jacket with good conduct stripes to the sleeve, holding pillbox cap with regimental zig-zag detail.
John Pettie RA (1839-1893) studied at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh, working under Robert Scott Lauder with William Quiller Orchardson and others. Pettie established a name for himself initially as a book illustrator and was regarded as an outstanding draughtsman. Against the background of Victorian technological advancement he found popular success in painting scenes from English and Scottish history. In the early 1860s he moved to London to join Orchardson and others in loose colony of Scottish practioners. In 1866 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1874 received full academical honours in succession to Sir Edwin Landseer. His diploma picture was 'Jacobites, 1745'. He is described was a hard and rapid worker, and, in his best days, a colourist of a high order and a brilliant executant. His self-portrait in Renaissance armour is in the Aberdeen Art Gallery and another is in Tate Britain.