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Fine Art & Frames

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Exhibition of lots
vendredi 28 juin - 10:00/16:00, Parker Fine Art Auctions
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dimanche 30 juin - 10:00/14:00, Parker Fine Art Auctions
lundi 01 juillet - 10:00/16:00, Parker Fine Art Auctions
mardi 02 juillet - 10:00/16:00, Parker Fine Art Auctions
mercredi 03 juillet - 10:00/16:00, Parker Fine Art Auctions
jeudi 04 juillet - 10:00/16:00, Parker Fine Art Auctions
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330 results

Lot 120 - Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly (1896-1971) British. The Battle of Loos, Watercolour, Signed and dated 1916 and inscribed verso (now framed) "'A' Battery 52 Regt RFA in action on the site of the Hohenzollern Redoubt on the morning of 25 Sept 1915 when the 9th Scottish Division broke through the German Front Line', 25.5" x 38.15" (64.8 x 96.8cm). Being sold with a map and documentation about the Battle of Loos and 'A Subaltern's Odyssey, the memoir of the Great War' by R B Talbot Kelly. Provenance: Anthony Price (1929-2019), author of the David Audley and Jack Butler series. He won a Gold Dagger for 'Other Paths To Glory'. Talbot Kelly was serving with the Royal Field Artillery when the British Army attacked the German defences at Hohenzollern Redoubt on 25th September, marking the beginning of the Battle of Loos. The Hohenzollern Redoubt was one of the strongest positions in the German lines at Loos protecting a valuable observation point. The 26th (Highland) Brigade successfully assaulted the position on this opening day of battle, however over the following days, the six British divisions, in their attempt to support the French offensive to the south, were surrounded and forced to retreat suffering huge casualties. Witnessing the brutality of the day and seeing German prisoners and British injured passing him Kelly wrote: “these men had become majestic in their grime and filth of war, utterly fearless now of any horror it might hold for them, prepared to hand on, whilst consciousness lasted, to the gains they had won at such tremendous cost. I was witness, this day, to the devotion and self sacrifice of the very pick of Scotland’s manhood, men whom I had so recently seen on parade in their thousands, and who now returned of their own free will, crippled and maimed, to walk down the dark, uncertain alleyways of death”. He recorded his service on the front line in his book “A Subaltern’s Odyssey’ and in numerous sketches. This watercolour depicting the 9th Scottish Division (8th Black Watch or possibly 8th Gordon Highlanders) and the German prisoners on the morning of battle is one of his most detailed depictions of the war and its consequences.

Estim. 3 000 - 5 000 GBP