Richard Westall was admired by George III and the Prince of Wales, however his most important royal appointment was in the Household of the Duchess of Kent as Drawing Master to Princess Victoria (the future Queen), from 1827 until his death in 1836.

This painting was either painted for or given to the Duchess of Kent and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1832. It illustrates the 'Wild Huntsman' of 1796, a Walter Scott translation of a German folk-style poem by Gottfried Bürger (1747-94). The story is a sort of 'Erlkonig' for the Lord's Day Observance Society (an institution coincidentally founded in the same year): the Wildgrave ('Earl Warden of the Forest') hunts on a Sunday and is joined by a good angel trying to dissuade him and a bad one urging him on; he destroys the crops and the flocks of the poor in his quest for the white stag and is just about to plough through a hermitage. The hermit appeals to his better nature for the last time, but he persists and is transformed on the spot into a spirit hunted for all eternity by the Dogs of Hell and the Great Huntsman of the Other Side. In Westall's painting we see a white haired hermit, wearing brown robes, raising his crucifix to ward off the mounted hunters from pursuing the white stag, lying on the ground before a stone cross. The Earl appears in the centre with the 'fair youth' on his left and the 'Sable Hunter' on his right.

Signed and dated: 'R. W 1831'