Artist: Fortunino Matania
(biography)Medium: Limited edition Lithograph print on Paper
Size: 15" x 10" (381mm x 254mm)
Date: 1916
Signature: Signed by artist lower left
This is a Signed Limited edition print.One of a series of 12 artist proof signed prints about World War I produced for the Sphere & Tatler in 1916, 'With the British Army on the Western Front: Scene in a Stately French Chateau.' The despatch rider shown in the above picture has just arrived with despatches for the staff. His entry introduces into the dignified room a foreign element of excitement and rush-and-tumble. That his passages to and from the trenches are none too void of peril is evidenced by his plastered head and his general travel-stained air.
The staff officers wait with eagerness for the despatches he is fishing out of his big waterproof bag. The room in which the staff has installed itself is situated in one of those stately chateaux met with in parts of northern France. In one corner of the room, looking down on the scene of busy military activity, is a bust of Napoleon.
Portraits hanging from the walls and the elaborate chandelier above the table, all betoken the status and tastes of the chateau's former occupants.
This art features as Fig. 83 in the book
The Art of Fortunino Matania: catalogue of original art & prints.
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