players while keeping them recognisable and reasonably sized. To ensure accuracy, Tayler arranged sittings with each member of the Kent team and made an effort to paint each one true to life. He initially planned to include non-striking Lancashire batsman Harry Makepeace, but when Makepeace was unable to attend a sitting, Tayler used another Lancashire player, William Findlay, as the batsman. Findlay had not actually played in that particular match, but he was available to visit Tayler's London studio as he had been newly appointed secretary of the Surrey County Cricket Club after his retirement from active cricket competition at the end of 1906. Reception and display history Tayler completed the painting in 1907. By this time, 192 advance engravings of the painting had been ordered, ensuring that Tayler would be well compensated for the work. When the painting was unveiled, it was praised for its accuracy, use of lighting, and shade. In 1908, a limited print signed by Tayler and Lord Harris was created; further prints were made by Kent in 1990 and 2000, and each was signed by current players of their respective times, including Colin Cowdrey, E.W. Swanton, Les Ames and Matthew Fleming. As a result of its popularity, the painting was lent out for display at Rectory Field, Blackheath and Lord's Cricket Ground. The painting is viewed by cricket fans and historians as a notable illustration of the Golden Age of cricket in the Victorian and Edwardian periods before the First World War. Cricket historian E. W. Swanton praised the painting, singling it out as "one of the finest ever portrayals of distinguished identifiable cricketers in action". The painting was predominantly displayed in the pavilion of the St. Lawrence Ground. However, in 1999 it was lent to Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) after Kent were unable to continue to afford its insurance. The MCC hung the painting in the Lord's Pavilion while Kent retained one of the prints for display in the St. Lawrence Ground pavilion in place of the original. In 2005, with Kent finding itself in debt, the club announced their intention to sell the painting. When questioned by Kent members about the proposed sale, Kent chairman Carl Openshaw said that it was being done because he felt the painting no longer particularly benefited the cricket club as many of Kent's members already owned reproductions of the painting. Openshaw also stated that the painting would