Sir John Lavery, R.A., R.H.A., R.S.A.

Acquired from the artist by his secretary Miss Katherine FitzGerald and thence by descent, until c.1985

London, Leicester Galleries, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Sir John Lavery RA, 1941, no.43, illustrated p.4 

Kenneth McConkey, Sir John Lavery, 1993, p.146;
Kenneth McConkey, John Lavery, A Painter and his World, 2010, p.145

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Ltd., 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, Duke Street St James', London, SW1Y 6BU. If you have any further questions please contact the department on +44 (0)207 293 5718. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural condition The canvas is unlined and is inscribed on the reverse. The canvas is structurally sound and secure. Paint surface The paint surface has an even if rather glossy varnish layer and more matt varnish could provide a more sympathetic surface coating. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows small scattered retouchings primarily around the framing edges and in the upper left and upper right corners. It would appear that a secondary signature in the lower left has been painted over by the artist. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and should benefit from a matter varnish layer. It should be stressed however that no further work is required for reasons of conservation.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

On 19 July 1919, a Victory Parade and celebrations took place in central London to mark the ending of the Great War (fig 1). Following the Armistice in the previous November, it took until the beginning of the New Year for the dismantling of the war machine to commence. Lavery, having been an Official War Artist was swiftly dispatched to Northern France to record temporary hospitals, supply depots and ordnance stores in the early weeks of 1919 before they were de-commissioned. He and his wife then embarked upon a short holiday at the Sidi-bu-Said on the Bay of Tunis, at the behest of Baron d’Erlanger and he was back in London in May, in time to paint Duff Cooper’s portrait prior to his marriage to Lady Diana Manners on 2 June.

All throughout this six-month period, soldiers were returning from the Western Front, and the victory parade led by Field Marshall Haig, General Pershing, Admiral Beatty and the ever-popular Marshal Foch was brought forward, following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of June and the subsequent parade through Paris on Bastille Day. Edwin Lutyens was summoned to Downing Street and he swiftly produced drawings for a temporary Cenotaph in Whitehall.

When the great day arrived, excitement was intense and Lavery repaired to the roof of Carlton House Terrace with other society figures, including the Coopers, to watch the display. The regiments, some 15,000 troops, including 120 members of the Women’s Legion, now part of the Royal Army Service Corps, were massed in Hyde Park near the Albert Memorial. They then marched through Knightsbridge down the Mall where they performed the tricky manoeuvre of passing through the narrow Admiralty Arch at Lavery’s vantage point. As was his wont, he took his portable easel with him. This stout wooden box on extendable legs was his essential travelling kit and it enabled him to execute standard 25 x 30 inch canvases and prepared canvas-boards on the spot. He had a long training as an ‘artist-reporter’ and was used to working quickly. Onlookers did not bother him and when engaged on a painting such as Admiralty Arch, 1919, his concentration was of necessity, intense. As Cunninghame Graham noted, it was impossible to distract him (McConkey 2010, p. 207).

The scene nevertheless, presented particular challenges. The procession was constantly moving and it was necessary to operate like a camera, fix upon a particular configuration of parading regiments and record it in the moment. Admiralty Arch, the Mall, and the surrounding streets were bedecked with the flags of the Allies including those of the United States and Japan, and in the foreground, groups of spectators were clearly visible. The joyous mood was intense, and as Duff Cooper noted in his journal, ‘the massed colours were beautiful’ (John Julius Norwich ed., The Duff Cooper Diaries, 2005, p. 101). Lavery, from the time of his recording of Queen Victoria’s visit to Glasgow in 1888, was good with pageants, and he would go on to paint Their Majesties’ Court, 1931 (unlocated) and the coronation procession in 1937 (Museum of London). Important as these moments were, they did not quite match the jubilant mood of the march past at Admiralty Arch.

We are grateful to Professor Kenneth McConkey for kindly preparing this catalogue entry.