Like lots 88 and 89, this watercolour almost certainly has some political significance. Thematically it is close to the example reproduced in Country Life (see lot 88), which shows two frogs in Homburg hats walking into an ambush of frog bandits like those seen here. Dated 1876, the year Bright died, the Country Life picture seens to be the last of the series of satirical commentaries on the Franco-Prussian War and its aftermath to which lots 88 (1871) and 89 (1873) also belong. According to the writer answering the 'collector's question' about its authorship, 'it is possible that the two frogs in Homburg hats were intended to be the German Emperor and Bismarck. In the autumn of 1875 there was widespread fear in Europe of a sudden attack on Germany by France, who was believed to be then bent on avenging her humiliating defeat of 1870-71'