Description
Object description
image: A view across a battle scarred landscape in northern France. In the foreground are the remains of the old German
front line, with the remains of dugouts, trenches and shell craters in the chalky soil in the foreground. In the distance are fields and a
small wood towards the centre of the composition.
Physical description
image: A view across a battle scarred landscape in northern France. In the foreground are the remains of the old German front line, with the remains of dugouts, trenches and shell craters in the chalky soil in the foreground. In the distance are fields and a small wood towards the centre of the composition.
It is an oil paint on canvas. The frame is painted and gilded wood. There is no glazing. There is a stretcher bar lining.
Label
This is one of a series of paintings commissioned by the British War Memorial Committee set up by the Ministry of
Information early in 1918. The Committee developed a scheme to build a 'Great memorial gallery' devoted to 'fighting subjects, home
subjects and the war at sea and in the air'. The centre of the scheme was to be a coherent series of paintings based on the dimensions of
Uccello's 'Battle of San Romano' in the National Gallery (72 x 125 inches), this size being considered suitable for a commemorative battle
painting. While the commissions included some of the most avant-garde British artists of the time, the BWMC advisors saw the scheme placed
within the tradition of artistic patronage, influenced by models from the Renaissance. It was intended that both the art and the setting
would celebrate national ideals of heroism and sacrifice. The Hall of Remembrance was never completed and the collection was given to the
Imperial War Museum.
History note
Ministry of Information commission Scheme 1. Commission administration transferred to Imperial War
Museum
History note
Note: This artwork was relocated in August 1939 to a less vulnerable site outside London when the museum activated its evacuation plan.
Inscription
SIMS