The painting was done at the time of the Boer War of 1900 of which Crane was a bitter opponent, and when the Fabians failed to oppose the war, Crane along with other members including Ramsay Macdonald resigned from the Fabian Society. The alternative title, A Stranger, was intended to symbolise the estrangement of peace from the world. A similar figure, presenting olive branches to two wounded combatants, appears in Crane’s cartoon to commemorate the ending of the Boer War, published in the Daily News, 2 June 1902.
