John
Lavery, the son of
a failed publican, was born in Belfast
in 1856. His father was drowned at sea while emigrating to America
in 1859. John's mother died soon afterwards and he was brought up
by relatives in Ayrshire.
Lavery studied at the Glasgow School of Art
as well as in London and Paris. He first exhibited at the Royal
Academy in 1886 and soon became a very successful portrait painter.
This included a group portrait of the royal family in Buckingham
Palace.
In 1917 Charles Masterman,
head of the government's War
Propaganda Bureau (WPB)
recruited Britain's two leading portrait painters, Lavery and William
Orpen to paint pictures of British military leaders in France.
Unfortunately, soon after receiving the invitation, Lavery had a serious
car-crash during a Zeppelin bombing
raid.
Unfit to travel to France, Lavery agreed to paint pictures of the
Home Front. In 1918 he painted pictures such as A
Convoy, North Sea,
Army
Post Office
and The
End.
After the Armistice he went to France
and painted The
Cemetery, Etaples
(1919).
Lavery was knighted in 1918 and three years later became a RA. Sir
John Lavery
continued to paint and exhibit at the Royal
Academy until his death in 1941.
Sir John Lavery, A Convoy, North Sea (1918)
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