Approaching the Last Hole, traditionally identified as James Wolfe-Murray on his pony at St Andrews

Arriving in St Andrews in the 1850s to open a boarding school for children whose parents were abroad working for the East India Company, Thomas Hodge, a young Cornishman, was soon elected a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and became a frequent medal winner. He was rarely seen on the golf course without his pencil, brushes and watercolours to paint records of his friends, who happened to be the giants of the game, in their golfing heaven. Over a period of forty years, Hodge drew and painted thousands of tiny portraits and miniature landscapes. He was known by all as "The Golf Artist of St Andrews".

In 1852 James Wolfe-Murray (1814-1890) of Cringletie House, Senator of the College of Justice of Scotland in 1816, married Elizabeth Charlotte Whyte-Melville, grand-daughter of John Whyte-Melville, who was painted by Sir Francis Grant (see lot 204). Wolfe-Murray is also depicted in Charles Lees's celebrated masterpiece Golfers: The Grand Match at St Andrews (National Gallery of Scotland). For a finished sketch of this painting by Lees see lot 203.