Historical information

The original art piece was painted by Australian artist Will Longstaff after he attended the unveiling ceremony of the Menin Gate memorial at the entrance of the Belgian town of Ypres in 1927.
The memorial is inscribed with the names of 54,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in Flanders with no known grave. More than 6000 are Australians.
It was purchased in 1928 for 2000 guineas and presented to the Australia Government by British Philanthropist Lord Woolavington

Significance

The image commemorates those soldiers with no marked graves who died on the Western Front during the First World War.

Physical description

Dark wooden frame of a dark blue coloured print with large cream coloured arched monument in distance.

Inscriptions & markings

MENIN GATE AT MIDNIGHT by Will Longstaff
Presented by Lord Woolavington