Blandford Fletcher

[3] Fletcher joined the life class at Charles Verlat's Academie Royale in Antwerp, where he became friends with Frank Bramley, Fred Hall and Walter Osborne.

[7] He was an early member of the Newlyn School in 1885, where he worked on a single large canvas, Dame Grigson's Academy.

[8] Fletcher lived in lodgings in Henry & Elizabeth Maddern's Belle Vue House with Forbes and Albert Chevallier Tayler.

[17] A year before her death, Archer described her reaction to the painting: "Looking at those boots and the wonder of those autumn leaves on the road brought it all back in a rush.

[24] but by 1949 tastes had changed and it was one of six paintings to be removed from display and placed into storage, with the then director, Robert Campbell, declaring that it was only popular "because it had a sentimental touch".

[28] John Cooper, director of the Moreton Galleries in Brisbane, stated that it should be auctioned off, notwithstanding that it was QAG's most popular picture.