Vainglory
There is a fascinating story about this William Orpen picture that not only highlights the pomposity and arrogance of the politicians of the time of World War I but has also introduced me to the word 'vainglory', which I hadn't heard before but which is no doubt appropriate for some of today's leaders.
Vainglory (noun) - An excessive or ostentatious pride especially in one's achievements.
Imperial War Museum Commission
When the war ended, the Imperial War Museum commissioned William Orpen to stay in France and paint three large group portraits of the delegates to the Paris Peace Conference. Throughout 1919 he painted individual portraits of the delegates to the Conference and these formed the basis of his two large paintings, A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay and The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors. In both pictures, the architecture overwhelms the gathered politicians and statesmen whose political wranglings and vainglory had diminished them in Orpen's eyes.
The Third Painting
After working on this composition for nine months, Orpen painted over all the figures and replaced them with a coffin covered by the Union Jack and flanked by a pair of ghostly and wretched soldiers clothed in rags, actually the figure from the painting Blown Up, Mad, with two cherubs above them supporting garlands of flowers.
To the Unknown British Soldier in France
This painting, now known as To the Unknown British Soldier in France, was first exhibited in 1923 at the Royal Academy. The public voted it picture of the year, but almost all of the critics who reviewed the picture condemned it; and, from a handful of critics and newspapers, Orpen received sustained abuse and was accused of bad taste, technical ineptitude and, for the two figures either side of the coffin, sacrilege. Orpen did receive some letters of appreciation from ex-servicemen and from family members of soldiers who had died in the war, but he still felt the need to issue a statement explaining the picture and his intentions. However, it was clearly not the group portrait the Imperial War Museum had commissioned, and the Museum refused to accept it.
Painting out the Cherubs and Soldiers
You can download To the Unknown British Soldier in France. You can also download it as part of our William Orpen, War Artist - 61 High Resolution Images collection.
