Focus on this artwork and analyze the History.
The painting was commissioned by Newcastle-on-Tyne based partnership of Mawson, Swan & Morgan and it was completed by Wollen in 1895 and was exhibited at the 1896 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (catalogue number 673). Many of the players sat specially for Wollen while other players were based on previous portraits of them. It was one of the pieces selected to appear in Cassell's Royal Academy Pictures 1896 edition. Subsequent to the Royal Academy exhibition the portrait is known to have been on display in West Yorkshire and Newcastle in 1896–1898 but the subsequent whereabouts of the portrait are unknown until 1957 when members of the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union found the portrait in a second-hand shop in Newcastle. They bought the picture for £25 and it was displayed in the Otley R.U.F.C. clubhouse until the 1960s when it was moved to its current location in the West stand at Twickenham Stadium.
Twickenham Stadium Yorkshire Rugby Football Union Twickenham Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Swan Otley R.U.F.C. Rugby Football Union Cassell's