Harry Patch portrait
Portrait of Harry Patch
October 2010
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s
Victoria Art Gallery has acquired an oil portrait of Harry
Patch.
Harry was the oldest surviving British veteran
of the First World War, and a much-lauded local citizen of
Somerset, based for much of his life in Bath. He was born in Combe
Down, Bath, in 1898 and died on July 25, 2009, aged 111. The
portrait, by artist Dan Llewelyn Hall, was the last one to be
painted before his death.
The 4 x 3 foot oil portrait of Harry will
initially be displayed in the Victoria Art Gallery in time for
Remembrance Sunday, before moving to The Guildhall. It makes a
fitting adjunct to the Shaped by War: Photographs by Don
McCullin exhibition that is on view at the Gallery until
November 21.
At the same time, the Gallery has also
acquired two drawings by the same artist, one of Harry Patch, the
other of Henry Allingham who was the last serving WW1 volunteer, as
well as being the world’s oldest man at 113, when he died in the
same week as Harry Patch.
The Council’s Cabinet Member for Tourism, Leisure & Culture
Cllr Terry Gazzard (Conservative, Abbey) said: “Bath & North
East Somerset Council is very proud of its association with Harry
and we’re delighted to have this new portrait to celebrate his
life.
“We have already put up a special commemorative brass plaque to
celebrate his life at The Guildhall – the portrait will be moved to
sit alongside this in the new year.”
Dan Llewelyn Hall studied art at the
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff and the University of
Westiminster, London. He won the Singer & Friedlander Young
Artist of the Year, 2003 and his work has been seen at the National
Gallery of Wales, Cardiff and the Royal Watercolour Society, Sunday
Times exhibition 2008. Llewelyn Hall made five sketches of Mr Patch
over a three-hour sitting in 2009 (some of the sketches were
subsequently acquired by the Royal Collection), before painting the
life-size canvas in his studio. It was displayed in the BP
Portrait Award exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in 2009,
receiving wide notice as one of the publicity images used on the
London Underground, as well as featuring in a BBC documentary.
ends