Art Interpretation

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES
22nd of April - 25th of May 1915

This famous war painting was the first official war painting. Lord Beaverbrook commissioned Richard Jack (1866-1952) to paint this great battle.

This painting was done in 1916, in Richards small London apartment on an enormous 371.5 x 589.0 centimeter canvas. It was the first of thousands of war paintings done by hundreds of artists. No one had witnessed this great battle, so people doubted Richard's ability to portray it realistically. They were wrong and this painting still stands as one of the most famous paintings of WWI

The soldier standing In the middle represents courage for the Canadian people as it was one of their first battles.

About Richard Jack

Mr. Jack was born on February 15, 1866 in Sunderland, County Durham, United Kingdom. Jack studied at York School of Art before later moving to the Royal College of Art in 1886, at 20 years old Richard Jack was a travelling artist on his way to Academie Julian. Upon his return to London, he worked for The Idler and Cassel's Magazine as a black and white artist.

My Interpretations

The tone of this painting is intense. It gives off the feeling of sadness but at the same time courage and victory. It shows a wounded soldier on the left and a tall courageous leader in the center. It shows the intensity of a war very well

I believe the artist had a great amount of pride for his country in the war. However I don't believe he wanted war or felt war was the right thing to do.

I think this piece somewhat accurately displays what the war was like, I would have no clue what it was like but from what I've seen in documentaries and read in textbooks, the war was much dirtier and bloodier than what is portrayed here. Richard did capture the feelings of war though.