The painting depicts a group of british soldiers in the crimean war, which is a war england and france fought against russia in fifties. In 18 74, when this painting became famous, something extraordinary happened that i think is worth revisiting. It's an issue that we deal with all the time to day, what it means to be the first, the first outsider, to enter a closed world. Every week for the next ten weeks, i'm going to take you back to examine something I think has been overlooked or misunderstood.