John Faed, R.S.A.

Sotheby's, London, 20 January 1954, lot 105, where purchased by Thomas Agnews & Sons on behalf of Sir David Scott for £80

Probably, Royal Scottish Academy, 1858, no. 188 as Reading the List of the Killed and Wounded;
Birmingham, City Art Gallery and Museum, Victorian Paintings, 1965;
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Sunshine & Shadow - The David Scott Collection of Victorian Paintings, 1991. no. 5

Jeremy Maas, Victorian Painters, London, 1969, illus. p. 116;
John Hadfield, Every Picture Tells a Story: Images of Victorian Life, 1985, p. 103, illustrated pp. 104-105;
Sotheby's, Pictures from the Collection of Sir David and Lady Scott, 2008, pp. 150-151

STRUCTUE The board is slightly convexed. PAINT SURFACE Scattered craquelure particularly to the lower left corner. Otherwise in good stable condition. ULTRAVIOLET UV light reveals retouching and infilling to craquelure across the lower left corner, corresponding to aforementioned craquelure. Minor scattered spots elsewhere, under a thick varnish. FRAME Held in a lightly decorated gold composite frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Faed was fond of painting Scotch domestic scenes. Here we have the wounded soldier, his arm in a sling, coming back unexpectedly, while his family are reading the war news. His wife sits in the window dreaming on him. His little son on the left is the only one who has spotted him. I like all the carefully executed detail of this picture and its pleasing sentiment.' Sir David Scott

When David Scott purchased this picture in 1954 it was catalogued as a work by Thomas Faed, the younger brother and pupil of the Scottish artist John Faed. The picture has been reproduced several times in studies of Victorian genre paintings and attributed to Thomas Faed. Recently, the backing-board was removed and revealed the remnants of an old label signed by John Faed and bearing his Edinburgh address at Northumberland Street. This has shed new light on the attribution of this painting and proved that it is by the older, and arguably more accomplished painter. In 1856 Faed painted a series of pictures based upon scenes from Robert Burn's poem The Soldier's Return from which the engraver Lumb Stocks R.A. produced a series of prints for the subscribers of the Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts of Scotland. The poem reads;

"The wars are o'er, and I'm come hame,
And find thee still true-hearted;
Tho' poor in gear, we're rich in love,
And mair we'se ne'er be parted."
Quo' she, "My grandsire left me gowd, 
A maiden plenish'd fairly;
And come, my faithfu' sodger lad,
Thou'rt welcome to it dearly!"
For gold the merchant ploughs the main,
The farmer ploughs the manor;
But glory is the sodger's prize,
The sodger's wealth is honor:
The brave poor sodger ne'er despise,
Nor count him as a stranger;
Remember he's his country's stay,
In day and hour of danger

John Faed specialised in scenes of rural life set in the Highlands, modelled to some extent on the genre subjects of Sir David Wilkie. The Soldier's Return shows the interior of a cottage or farmhouse, with three generations of a Highland family variously engaged. Seated at the centre is an old woman who has open before her a newspaper from which, it may be guessed, she is learning of the killed and wounded. Listening to her read are her husband and two dark-haired young women. Beside the fire a group of children play and eat their supper, one of whom looks towards the doorway through which appears a soldier in uniform - presumably the son of the old woman, husband of one of the girls, and father of the children. The excitement and relief that will be felt as each of the members of the family realise that their son, husband and father is safely returned is clear.

Scenes of returning soldiers became a central element in the iconography of Scottish art in the nineteenth century, not least because so many troops were raised for the British Army in rural Scotland, with a consequent depletion of the male working population. It was also a subject addressed in vernacular poetry and ballads, which is perhaps how the subject was suggested to the artist.