A woman and a soldier, both on horseback, are attacked by wolves while riding in the Alps in winter. Stipple engraving by P.W. Tomkins, 1798, after W. Hamilton.

An episode described in the poem 'Winter' (1726), in 'The seasons' by James Thomson: "By wintry famine roused, from all the tract / Of horrid mountains which the shining Alps, / And wavy Appenine, and Pyrenees, / Branch out stupendous into distant lands; / Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave! / Burning for blood! bony, and gaunt, and grim! / Assembling wolves in raging troops descend; / And, pouring o'er the country, bear along, / Keen as the north-wind sweeps the glossy snow. / All is their prize. They fasten on the steed, / Press him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart. / Nor can the bull his awful front defend, / Or shake the murdering savages away. / Rapacious, at the mother's throat they fly, / And tear the screaming infant from her breast. / The godlike face of man avails him nought. / E'en beauty, force divine! at whose bright glance / The generous lion stands in soften'd gaze, / Here bleeds, a hapless undistinguish'd prey."