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SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES By SAMUEL E. WALLER

SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES
By SAMUEL E. WALLER (1850-1903)
IN THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON

When this picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882, the following explanatory note was published in the Catalogue:

"On the first rumour of impending difficulties between 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

The artist was originally intended for the Army, and with that career in view was educated at Cheltenham College; but he displayed so strong an inclination for drawing that he joined the Gloucester School of Art, and at the age of eighteen entered the Academy Schools. His father was an architect, and young Waller went through a course of instruction in the parental office, while in his leisure he studied animals on the farm which his father kept.

All these early influences had their effect upon his work throughout his life, and are traceable in this picture, notably in the military subjects, in the animal studies, and in the architecture. He was devoted to horses especially, and would recount many experiences of his encounters with jockeys, or of his tramps for miles in search of equine models. Horses figure in nearly all his paintings, and they are drawn with loving care and unerring skill. Mr. Waller's method was first to draw the animal at a distance so that he could visualise it in its entirety, and then paint it at close quarters in order to copy faithfully such details as the veins and muscles, or the texture of the animal's coat.

From the book "Famous Paintings" Volume 2 printed in 1913.

Large files of this public domain print are available at Stock Photos at Songs of Praise
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Online "Name the Painting"

" Sweethearts and Wives"
by S.E. Waller, Tate Collection

"The Empty Saddle"
by S.E. Waller

Famous Paintings in this Series

James Archer My Great Grandmother	Bashkirtseff The Meeting	Bouguereau Charity	John Brett From the Dorsetshire Cliffs
Arnesby Brown The River Bank	Joseph Clark Mother's Darling	John Constable The Hay-Wain	Jean Baptiste Camille Corot The Fisherman's Hut
Jean Baptiste Camille Corot A Flood	Leonardo Da Vinci Monna Lisa	Edouard Detaille The Dream	Henri Fantin-Latour Flowers
Thomas Gainsborough Queen Charlotte	Thomas Gainsborough The Market Cart	Jean Baptiste Greuze The Head of a Girl	Jean Baptiste Greuze Fidelity
James Clark Hook Home With the Tide	Alfred William Hunt Windsor Castle	Josef Israels The Shipwrecked Mariner	B.W. Leader The Stream in Summer-time
Madame Vigee Le Brun Portrait of the Artist	Alphonse Legros A Canal With a Fisherman	Anton Mauve Watering Horses	J.L.E. Meissonier The Cavalier
Sir J.E. Millais Speak! Speak!	Sir J.E. Mallais My First Sermon	George Morland The Reckoning	George Morland The Inside of a Stable
Murillo The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin	Alfred Parsons When Nature Painted All Things Gay	Ralph Peacock The Sisters	Rembrandt Syndics of the Cloth Merchants' Guild
Guido Reni "Ecce Homo"	Sir Joshua Reynolds Portrait of Mrs. Richard Hoare With Her Infant Son	Briton Riviere The Temptation in the Wilderness	Dante Gabriel Rossetti Day Dreams
John Singer Sargent Miss Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth	Lady Stanley (Dorothy Tennant) His First Offence	Jan Steen Grace Before Meat	Marcus Stone On the Road from Waterloo to Paris
Constant Troyon Watering Cattle	H.S. Tuke "All Hands to the Pumps"	Velazquez King Philip IV. of Spain	S.E. Waller Sweethearts and Wives
Thomas Webster The Smile	Index Famous Paintings Volume 1 Art Gallery	Index Famous Paintings Volume 2 Art Gallery	Index Art Appreciation Lessons