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ARTHUR STREETON (1867 - 1943) - Cathedral Interior, c 1917 75 x 63 cm
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Notes: Streeton spent time in France as a war artist after being commisssioned by the Australian War Memorial Museum to paint battle scenes during the First World War. This work was painted during the 1916-17 period when he often visited the town of Albert in the north of France. In 1915 the British army relieved the French and the cathedral, Albert Cathedral Notre-Dame de Brebieras Basilica, became the major supply and command centre particularly for the battle of the Somme.
During the period of the Allied occupation of the cathedral, the structure remained mostly intact. On 1 January 1915, the cathedral was hit by a German shell causing the statue of the Virgin Mary to dislodge and tip forward. The statue remained in this position and became known as the Leaning Virgin. From this episode, a belief rose among the troops that once the Virgin fell the war would end.
Les Carlyon, in his recent book ''The Great War'' (2006), described the interior of the Cathedral before its destruction, ''The Church has a warmth that is lacking in the more famous and much older Cathedral at Amiens. The basilica was built after the enlightenment , the cathedral long before. The basilica, Neo-Byzantine in style, says love and the cathedral say piety with a hint of bigotry as well.''
It has been reported that there were long periods of bad weather during parts of 1916-17 in the Albert area which caused rivers of mud to flow and sped up the decomposition of bodies which lay in and around the cathedral. Streeton would have endured these miserable conditions and the stench which accompanied the rotting flesh around him.
Streeton''s war pictures have been criticised as lacking in heroic battlefield scenes, his pictures were painted mostly of landscapes in the regions where battles were taking place. Streeton described his thoughts on capturing war scenes in a letter to Tom Roberts, ''true pictures of Battlefields are very quiet looking things. There''s nothing much to be seen - everybody & thing is hidden & camouflaged - it is only in the Illustrated papers one gets a real idea of Battle as it occurs in the mind of the man whose never been there''.
This painting of the Albert Cathedral is viewed from the back into nave of the church. There is a distinct air of tranquility to the work which is suggested by the blue skies and dappled light which washes the interior walls. The dove at the front of the church is also symbolic of peace, despite the ruined domes which are the product of conflict and destruction. It is possible that this work is a polital statement of hope being made by Streeton against the loss of life and destruction which was dominant during this period of history.
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April 30, 2007 3:00 PM AEST
Annandale, Australia
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