Ernest Crofts

Ernest studied at Rugby School, for several years, and then headed to Berlin where he developed his interest in art and decided upon a career as a painter.

Under Hünten, Crofts' talent as a military painter grew, and in 1874, he exhibited Retreat, representing an episode in the Franco-Prussian War during the Battle of Gravelotte, and in the same year, another scene from the same conflict, One touch of nature makes the whole world kin which won him the Crystal Palace prize medal.

Both scenes were influenced by the artist's experience of witnessing some of the closing stages of the war, especially the battles of Weissenbourg, Wörth, and the siege of Strasbourg.

One critic described it as follows: "Mr. Crofts' large canvas is admirable in the grouping of the soldiers on the morning of the battle; the day is breaking, on a weary, wounded and mud-stained company, some lying on the bare ground with knapsacks for pillows, some up and preparing for the march.

Crofts was elected an Associate of the RA on 19 July 1878, the year that his picture, Wellington on his march from Quatre Bras to Waterloo was shown.

In the same year, his painting entitled The Morning of the Battle of Waterloo was shown at the Paris International Exhibition; this depicted the French army retiring from the battlefield, with Napoleon leaving his carriage and preparing to mount his horse.

His trilogy of paintings chronicling the final moments, death and burial of Charles I were popular, but there was some disagreement over the representation of the block upon which the king knelt to be beheaded.

[4] While Crofts's pictures were popular in the 1870s and 1880s, the public lost its appetite for war paintings in the early years of the 20th century following the setbacks in South Africa.