'Debout les morts!': French Troops going over the top in the Great War at Verdun
Cecil Constant Philip Lawson (1880 - 1967)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1914 - circa 1920
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
959 x 1283 mm (37 3/4 x 50 1/2 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732322
Caption
In the middle right of this trench scene from the Great War is Lieutenant Jacques Péricard (1876 - 1944) of the French 3rd Regiment of Marine Infantry who often galvanised his troops, during the First World War by crying out: 'Debout les morts!' and it remains their motto (dead men standing) to this day. He was soldier, writer and commentator, who famously said that he who did not fight in Verdun does not know misery. The artist Cecil Lawson, son of the painter Cecil Gordon Lawson (1851-1882), became a Captain in the army, and also wrote and illustrated books on military uniforms and naval ballads. He followed in the family tradition, exhibiting paintings at the International Society, the Royal Academy and the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts between 1913 and 1923. He was evidently a friend of Sir Henry and Lady Alda Hoare as there is an album of reproductions of his works and Christmas cards from him at Stourhead.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, 'Debout les morts!': French Troops going over the top in the Great War at Verdun by Cecil C. P. Lawson (1880 -1938), signed in red, bottom right, circa 1918 - 20. In the middle right is Lieutenant Jacques Péricard (1876 - 1944).
Provenance
Painted for Alda Hoare and presented by the artist; given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946.
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Cecil Constant Philip Lawson (1880 - 1967), artist