Charles Cattermole was part of the wave of Victorian artists who were interested in reconstituting the Britain of the past in their pictures, combining an imaginative and lively vision of history with an antiquarian attention to period detail in such matters as costume, accessories and setting.

This reappraisal of history painting had been gaining momentum in England since about 1830, and was prompted in large measure by the huge impact of Sir Walter Scott’s historical novels. Painters also tended now to favour scenes inspired by minor, and very often domestic, dramas instead of the more conventional heroic episodes of bygone ages.

Cattermole was heavily influenced by his uncle, George Cattermole, a successful watercolourist a...