EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY!

I first saw this painting in a book giving an overview of the Napoleonic Wars and for a long time believed it to have been created by Lady Butler. Delving a little more into the subject I discovered it to have been the work of William Barnes Wollen, born October 1857 and died March 1936. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and was notably commissioned to go as an artist to South Africa to record events during the Boer War.
 
My interest was this painting titled ‘Norman Ramsay at Fuentes Oñoro’.

Studying the painting I wanted to know:

Why were the horse artillery surrounded as if they were in a cavalry charge?

Who was Norman Ramsay?

Where was it taking place?

When had it happened?

How did they get into such a mess?

What happened next?

Investigating further I have found other images of the same event and so started the ideas that became my first story ‘A Dangerous hour for England.’

A small part of a much larger battle, the amazing and, to many at the time, unbelievable exploits of these artillerymen inspired me to find answers from eye witness records as well as creating my own explanations for answers I have never found answers to! So began the planning by back tracking dates and events to create the first adventure where Fin met Thomo and started their training to become members of the horse artillery that appear in the painting.

Paintings are such great places to start questioning and learn more about our past whether recent or distant, and I thank William Barnes Wollen for such an evocative painting that led me to write five adventures featuring the horse artillery during the Napoleonic Wars.

They say a good picture/illustration is better than a thousand words and this one painting launched me into many thousands of words in creating Fin and Thomo’s adventures!

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