Joseph Crawhall was a watercolourist of remarkable talent, who in conjunction with colleagues such as Walton and Guthrie, challenged the conventions of the art establishment in late Victorian Scotland in a manner that saw him associated with the work of The Glasgow Boys. Rejecting the sentimentality and rigid form of the prevailing historical set pieces, Crawhall preferred scenes in which animals predominated - such as racecourses, hunt meets and street scenes - and often painted on the technically difficult medium of linen, working up his detailed field sketches with watercolour or gouache in his studio. Crawhall continued to produce paintings of exceptional quality until late in life.