Colthurst lived in Taunton for all of his life, and taught art part-time at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London. His exhibited pictures at the Royal Academy show that he travelled to Spain and Morocco. By the time of his death he had amassed a large collection of ancient Chinese and contemporary De Morgan pottery, which he left to the V&A, the British Museum, and to the Borough of Taunton together with the contents of his studio, including this picture, which was titled Somerset Country Boy on the old frame. The model is unmistakably the same as in another painting we have attributed to Harold Knight. He is wearing the same hat and smock, as if both pictures were painted at the same sitting.