Signaller, 2nd Main Line Gun Battalion

Place Europe: France
Accession Number ART02323
Collection type Art
Measurement sheet: 36.9 x 48.2 cm; image: 36.9 x 48.2 cm
Object type Work on paper
Physical description charcoal and pencil on paper
Place made France
Date made c 1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Depicts a portrait of a Signaller from the 2nd Main Line Gun Battalion, wearing a tin helmet and smoking a pipe, sitting on top of a wagon, holding the reins of the horse in front of him. Will Dyson was the first Australian official war artist to visit the front during the First World War, travelling to France in December 1916, remaining there until May 1917, making records of the Australian involvement in the war. He was formally appointed as an official war artist, attached to the AIF, in May 1917, working in France and London throughout the war. His commission was terminated in March 1920.