Philip de László painting of two Indian (Sikh) soldiers at risk of leaving UK

[Premi]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/philip-de-laszlo-painting-of-two-indian-soldiers-at-risk-of-leaving-uk

 

Press release

Philip de László painting of two Indian soldiers at risk of leaving UK

A painting by Philip de László of two Indian soldiers who served in the First World War is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found.

From:

Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

Published

14 April 2023

 

 

• Export bar placed on portrait to allow time for a UK institution to acquire the work
• Portrait depicts two cavalry officers who are thought to have fought at the Battle of the Somme

A painting by Philip de László of two Indian soldiers who served in the First World War is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found.

The portrait, valued at £650,000, depicts the cavalry officers Risaldar Jagat Singh and Risaldar Man Singh. The pair were junior troop commanders in the British Indian Army’s Expeditionary Force who served at the Battle of the Somme.

The soldiers sat for the artist in London two months before being sent to France to fight in the trenches. The painting is extremely rare in depicting active Indian participants in the First World War.

The painting is a fine example of a portrait by one of the most renowned artists of the twentieth century and captures an important moment in British history as soldiers from across the Empire came to fight in Europe.

The painting appears to have been created for de László’s own collection and it remained in his studio until he died in 1937.

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

“ This wonderful and sensitive portrait captures an important moment in our history as soldiers were drawn from across the globe to help fight in the trenches of the First World War.

“ I hope this magnificent painting can remain in the UK to help tell the story of those brave soldiers and the contribution they and so many others made to Allied victory.”

The Minister’s decision follows the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

Committee Member Peter Barber said:

“ Philip de László was one of Britain’s most distinguished society portrait painters of the early twentieth century.  But this sensitive portrait… offers an exceptionally rare glimpse not of maharajahs or generals but of two ‘ordinary’ middle-ranking Sikh soldiers about to depart for the horrors of the Battle of the Somme. The enormous contribution made by them and millions of other Indians to Britain’s war effort between 1914 and 1918 has until recently been largely overlooked and the life stories of de László’s sitters remain to be uncovered. Yet numerous descendants of Indian soldiers now live in Britain, rendering the portrait ‘British’ at several, increasingly significant, levels.