About the artist: John Pott (1837- 1898) was born and raised in Nottinghamshire and specialised in historical paintings set in the 16th through the 19th century, many depicting the battles of Napoleon in bloody detail. Catering to the tastes of the Victorians, he also painted emotionally laden narratives and sentimental scenes from classic English literature.
Pott expressed an interest in art and displayed extraordinary talent at a young age. However, his father insisted that he pursued a career in architecture, and at sixteen, Pott became an apprentice to a local architect. He found the work dull at the best of times and eventually persuaded his father to enrol him at an art school in Bloomsbury, London.
When he was only 26, Pott’s painting, Puss in Boots, was selected to hang ‘on the line’ at the 1863 Royal Academy Exhibition – a huge honour, since many paintings were hung too high or too low to be viewed properly.
Some of Pott’s most famous paintings include Mary Queen of Scots on Her Way to Her Execution, Charles I After His Trial, and On the March from Moscow.