Sensation (art exhibition) was over "Myra", an image of the murderer Myra Hindley by Marcus Harvey. The Mothers Against Murder and Aggression protest group picketed the show, accompanied by Winnie Johnson, the mother of one of Hindley's victims. They asked for the portrait, which is made up of hundreds of copies of a child's handprint, to be excluded to protect Johnson's feelings. Along with supporters she picketed the show's first day. Myra Hindley sent a letter from jail suggesting that her portrait be removed from the exhibition, reasoning that such action was necessary because the work was "a sole disregard not only for
The Battle of the Roses of the person who commissioned the portrait is unknown but it was completed by Wollen in 1895 and was exhibited at the 1896 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (catalogue number 673) after which it was sold. It was one of the pieces selected to appear in Cassell's "Royal Academy Pictures" 1896 edition. It is known to have been on display in West Yorkshire soon after but the subsequent whereabouts of the portrait are unknown until 1957 when members of the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union found the portrait in a second-hand shop in Newcastle. They bought the picture for £25 and it