This is the central fragment of a painting which originally showed a moment during the pursuit of retreating Egyptian forces after the battle of Tel-el-Kebir during the Egyptian War of 1882. Now known only from the engraving of the picture, the triumphant general was surrounded by cheering soldiers of the Gordon and Cameron Highlanders.

Still visible now, Sir John Adye is to the left with Major-General the Duke of Connaught in the background between him and Wolseley, and the artist’s husband, Lieutenant-Colonel William Butler is on the right. It is thought that Butler so disapproved of British foreign policy in pursuing the campaign against Arabi Pasha that he tried to persuade his wife not to paint the subject. The canvas may have been cut up at his request or else at the time of his death in 1910.