On Guard

There appears to be an attribution issue with this painting. While the work is dated to 1860 and credited to Ernest Waterlow, the artist was born in 1850, which would have made him only ten years old at the time of creation—far too young to have produced a finished oil painting. Ernest Waterlow was a distinguished British landscape painter who began his formal art education at the Royal Academy schools and started exhibiting publicly in 1872. He became known for his graceful landscapes in both oil and watercolor, eventually rising to become President of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1897 and a Royal Academician in 1903, receiving a knighthood in 1902. Given this timeline, 'On Guard' was likely created much later, perhaps in the 1870s or 1880s when Waterlow was actively producing work, or there may be a cataloging error regarding either the date or attribution. The title suggests a sentinel theme, possibly depicting a watchful figure or animal, which would be somewhat unusual for Waterlow, whose reputation rested primarily on landscape painting rather than genre scenes or animal subjects.