This is a superb etching by W.B. Hole entitled "The end of the Forty Five Rebellion. "
Image size 9.5 *6 ins: Please note the scan of the etching does not do justice to its clarity.
The text which accompanied the etching is as follows:
THE END OF THE “FORTY-FIVE” REBELLION.
DRAWN AND ETCHED BY W.B. HOLE, A.R.S.A.
WHILE touring in the Scottish Highlands it is indeed difficult to realise that the beautiful straths and hills of the present day were, within two centuries, the scenes of such deplorable incidents as Mr.Hole has admirably depicted in his etching. In the steady downpour of rain, which so frequently descends amongst hills, a band of Jacobites and Highlanders is being escorted by the soldiers of King George II., the son of the “wee, wee German Lairdie.”
Loyal to their party, and loyal to the prince they thought their rightful king, these poor Highlanders amidst all their troubles kept up a brave heart; and even when the greatest calamity of all overtook them, when their prince had fled and their army had been scattered, they still maintained such dignity that even their foes respected them.
One of the prisoners in the first little group, who appears more southern in his walk and attire than his fellows, coolly, and perhaps a little defiantly, whistles as he marches on through the mud and the rain. In front of him an old kilted Highlander is still firm enough to be the support of a wounded youth who moves along with difficulty aided also by a crutch. One poor man, of probably some previous gang of prisoners, has fallen out by the way, and one of the English soldiers roughly shakes him for fear even a half-dead man should escape by shamming. Glancing along the little band, we see a father and his son in tattered kilts, and behind them a wounded prisoner, scarcely able to hold up his head, being carried by two comrades. The leader of the soldiers on his weary horse glances anxiously round at his charge; and, behind him, an old Scottish mother and daughter have just ascertained the fateful fact that those whom they love have been taken prisoners, and may possibly run the risk of losing their lives for the cause for which they have so well but so unfortunately fought
William Hole 1846 -1917
Born Salisbury, 7th November, died Inverleith Terrace, Edinburgh 22nd October. Painter and etcher of landscapes and genre; occasional sculptor and stained glass window designer. Educated Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh University. First became a civil engineer but changed to professional art, studying at the Trustees School and Royal Scottish Academy life class. As his career progressed he turned more to mural decorations and became known for his reproduced etchings. Awarded the Royal Scottish Academy Stuart prize 1870 for ‘ Night to be remembered – it is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover… Professor Stevenson wrote of his etchings ‘he succeeds best with the romanticists; for, like them, he never misses the aspect and the style of the subject, whether in any particular case he may or may not bestow attention upon the drawing of detail and the fineness of treatment… His large plate ‘ The jumping horse’ after Constable, is perhaps the finest rendering ever given of any picture. No copiers could be freer with his brush than Mr Hole with his needle, or could render, at the same time, with a closer fidelity the character of Constable’s tangled variety of execution’. Hole himself was especially delighted to meet Whistler in Paris and to be invited by the great artist to etch Whistler’s self-portrait.
Elected: Associate Royal Scottish Academy 1878, RS 1889, Fellow Royal Society of painter and Etchers 1885, TSW 1885.
Exhibited: Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy, Fellow Royal Society of painter and Etchers, Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Royal Hibernian Academy & Aberdeen Artists’ Society.
