Lot 8: HENRY NELSON O'NEIL, R.A.

1817-1880 THE SLEEPING SOLDIER indistinctly signed and dated l.r.: 186* oil on canvas 93 by 72.5cm., 36½ by 28½in.

A proud mother is standing at the bedside of her sleeping son, a soldier who has returned from fighting, perhaps in India's First War of Independence in 1857, a subject that O'Neil treated on many occasions. He is a soldier of the 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) who fought the Indian Mutiny led by Major George Ogle Jacob. The soldier's sword and military uniform, safely folded in his travelling case, are beside him and he now sleeps safely and contentedly back in the protection of his comfortable family home.