01 Work, The Art of War, Frank Brangwyn's Mater Dolorosa Belgica (Our Lady of Sorrows), with footnotes

Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956)

Mater Dolorosa Belgica (Our Lady of Sorrows), c. 1915

Oil on canvas

H 159 x W 234 cm

William Morris Gallery

Painted in 1915, Mater Dolorosa Belgica (Our Lady of Sorrows) conveys Brangwyn's deep concern for Belgium in the midst of war. The cathedral is on fire, smoke rising from its roof. On the left are a group of refugees, and on the right a row of soldiers marching on. In the centre of the composition the Virgin Mary holds the dead body of Christ. It is a symbol of both sorrow and hope of resurrection.

Brangwyn poured his considerable energies into the war effort. He was driven by his personal loyalty to Belgium and a deep empathy for the fate of ordinary people. He designed 80 posters, which have become synonymous with First World War propaganda, as well as supporting refugee artists and contributing to fundraising exhibitions. More on this painting

Sir Frank William Brangwyn RA RWS RBA (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer.

Brangwyn worked in a wide range of artistic fields. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced designs for stained glass, furniture, ceramics, glass tableware, mosaics, buildings and interiors, was a lithographer and woodcutter and was a book illustrator. It has been estimated that during his lifetime Brangwyn produced over 12,000 works. His mural commissions would cover over 22,000 sq ft (2,000 m2) of canvas, he painted over 1,000 oils, over 660 mixed media works (watercolours, gouache), over 500 etchings, about 400 wood-engravings and woodcuts, 280 lithographs, 40 architectural and interior designs, 230 designs for items of furniture and 20 stained glass panels and windows.

Brangwyn received some artistic training, probably from his father, and later from Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo and in the workshops of William Morris, but he was largely an autodidact without a formal artistic education. When, at the age of seventeen, one of his paintings was accepted at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, he was strengthened in his conviction to become an artist. Initially, he painted traditional subjects about the sea and life on the seas. His 1890 canvas, Funeral At Sea won a medal of the third class at the 1891 Paris Salon. The murals for which Brangwyn was famous, and during his lifetime he was very famous indeed, were brightly coloured and crowded with details of plants and animals, although they became flatter and less flamboyant later in his life. More on Sir Frank William Brangwyn

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