To Verdun

Depicts an image of the figure of Death, a skeleton, wearing a cloak, riding a dark horse. The figure of Death bears a German standard (flag with Imperial eagle on it) and rides up an embankment before a tide of German soldiers led by their officers. The German soldiers and the figure of Death move across the landscape, under a stormy sky. The work comments on the carnage of German soldiers at the battle of Verdun, during the First World War. The Germans commenced the year 1916 by launching a massive offensive, attacking the French salient around Verdun, 200 kilometres east of Paris. After a period of six months the French and German casualties exceeded half a million. Claude Allin Shepperson (1867-1921) was an illustrator, printmaker, painter and lithographer. Initially a law student, he studied art in London and Paris during the 1890s. He was a regular contributor to 'Punch' magazine (1905-21), illustrated books and often depicted landscapes and figure subjects. He also served as a war artist, near the age of 50, during the First World War.