Home Again. This is Henry Nelson O’Neil’s companion piece to Eastward Ho! of 1858. and dates to the same year. Oil on canvas. No size is given for the National Army Museum painting, but the Art UK for the Museum of London one gives its dimensions as H 135 x W 107 cm. Collection: National Army Museum. Accession no. 1988-06-49-1, purchased with the assistance of the Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund or NACF).
In this later work, the soldiers who were tearfully waved off to fight in India are returning. At the very top, one returning soldier, described on the NAM site as a "bearded infantry corporal," holds his new baby at last; another, identified as a "young soldier of the 60th (The King's Royal Rifle Corps)" excitedly shows his Victoria Cross to a Chelsea Pensioner who is obviously his father — this pair appeared in Eastward Ho! as well. But not everyone has escaped harm. One wounded man has to be helped down to the pier, as his wife looks on in concern, carrying his crutches: "He wears a Kilmarnock 'pork-pie' cap under the white cotton 'Havelock' cover distinctive to the campaign, with the neck flap for protection from sunstroke" ("Home Again"). Once on firm ground the returning troops are met by a crowd of family members. It is a touching scene which again acknowledges the suffering of war for both men and their families. But, for some, it struck a false note, idealising what was actually a depressing reality, at a time when people were concerned about the lack of support for such soldiers (see Hichberger 170-71). This is a reflection on the way current debate could affect the reception of topical genre paintings, which are too specific to make a universal appeal. Significantly, Hichberger points out that reunions at home escaped such criticisms: "No reviewer levelled a charge of inauthenticity at the private home-coming pictures" (171).
Bibliography
Home Again. National Army Museum Online Collection. Web. 2 January 2023.
Hichberger, J. W. M. Images of the Army: The Military in British Art, 1815-1914. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988.
Created 2 January 2023