Description
Object description
image: A view of a heavy artillery position. A fallen crucifix lies in the far left, next to three soldiers who aim and
prepare to fire a camouflaged heavy gun. Below and to the right of them a soldier sits cross-legged sewing. Close to him are two soldiers
sitting down, one bowed forward in exhaustion. Above, another two soldiers are poised arranging boxes of ammunition; while in the far
right, the legs of a dead or sleeping soldier stick out on a sheet of corrugated iron.
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.
Label
title note: This picture has as its subject a battery of 9.2 howitzers - the gun known familiarly to the troops as
'Mother'. Their patchwork camouflage made them unrecognisable to hostile aircraft, and the green netting helped to conceal the
emplacements. On the right of the picture are two infantrymen resting by the gun-pit on their way back from the line, and on the left is a
wayside calvary broken and overturned by a shell explosion. The Forward Observing Officer and his signal sargeant, leaving the battery for
the observation post in the front trenches and a ruined village in the background, form part of the decorative scheme. (Original title
note, 1914-18 Art Catalogue, 1963)
History note
Ministry of Information Commission, Scheme 2. 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
Colin Gill 1919