Travellers attacked by Robbers

Benjamin Barker (Pontypool 1776 – Totnes 1838). Oil painting on canvas, Travellers attacked by Robbers by Benjamin Barker the younger (Pontypool 1776 - Totnes 1838) signed and dated 1814. At the centre of this dramatic scene taking place on heathland, a figure on a white horse has been shot with a pistol fired by a man wearing a red coat and with a red feather in his hat. A second figure brandishes a sword and a third appears to be aiming a shotgun. In the foreground a prostrate figure sits on the ground where his horse, apparently shot from under him, lays dying. To the right a man stands cowed with his head in his hands. Above them in the sky, gathering storm clouds underline the violence of the subject. Stourhead, Wiltshire (Accredited Museum)