John Hamilton Mortimer, A.R.A. (Eastbourne 1741-1779 London)

Mortimer was an early romantic in the history of British art, taking inspiration from the banditti figures of Salvator Rosa. The present drawing is characteristically a battle scene, but its subject remains unidentified. It was once in the same collection as another of the same size that appears to be its companion-piece (Detroit Institute of Arts). The subject of the Detroit drawing is likewise unknown, but it shows men carrying large bundles on their backs, apparently having disembarked from a ship anchored off shore. In the foreground a grieving woman, seated next to the body of a young man, prepares to use a dagger to take her own life. The dead figure may be the protagonist from the present drawing.

The pose of the principal figure is loosely based on the Apollo Belvedere. The dead or dying man at his feet is taken directly from one of Mortimer's few extant life drawings, a powerful study in black and white chalks, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. This appears to be the only case in which one of his life drawings can be linked to one of his imaginative compositions.