The artist was the eldest son of Henry Barnabus Bright (1824-1876), who painted extraordinary allegorical compositions peopled by frogs, three of which were sold in these Rooms on 12 June 1992, lots 88-90. Father and son have often been confused with each other, as well as with Henry Bright (1814-1873), a prolific landscape painter of the Norwich School, who was apparently no relation. See the above catalogue entries for an attempt to tackle the problem.

The present picture seems to be typical of Henry Bright, junior, who exhibited a picture entitled Friends in Adversity at the Royal Academy in 1876 which, according to the Art Journal, showed 'a flock of bull-finches, goldfinches, robbins, coverns, siskins, linnets, and sparrows, all seeking shelter from the winter weather beneath an old hat which had acted as scarcrow at Long Dilton in Surrey, and he was still domiciled in this at the turn of the century