Peace Signing in the Mirror Hall

Irish artist William Orpen (1878-1931) was born in Dublin . He was a child prodigy and graduated at the age of 12, after which he went to London to study at the under the supervision of Henry Tonks . Under the influence of Chardin , Hogarth and Watteau , and especially Rembrandt , Orpen became a successful and famous portrait painter, regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy . After the uprising of 1916 , the artist Sean Keating , a protégé and student of Orpen, asked him to return to his homeland to begin work on the revival of Irish fine art, but he preferred to remain in England and remain faithful to the empire . However, Orpen was soon drafted into the and with the rank of Major General, he became one of the first go to the Western Front in 1917. Documenting the tragic life of an ordinary soldier in battles, hospitals and camps without any falsehood or embellishment enriched Orpen's artistic talent. He himself remained in France longer than all other artists, and subsequently wrote that "he was never so busy in my life." In 1918, an exhibition of 125 works by Orpen on military topics was transported throughout the UK and the USA , and was even honored with a visit by Queen Mary , and the artist himself was knighted . After that, with the support of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, he received an additional order from the to write three paintings that depicted diplomats, political and military figures who became delegates at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]} .

The negotiations, which began on January 18, 1919, allowed the victorious Allied nations to formalize the end of the First World War , to apportion proportionally the blame for the caused by the defeated parties , to resolve the issue of . The conference, held under the difficult conditions of fierce negotiations, was seen as a reaction to public opinion about the need for reparations, which had to be combined with the degree of readiness and the ability of Germany to make these payments. In addition, broader issues were discussed at the talks, such as the creation of the League of Nations and the formation of new nation-states . The peace treaty was signed on June 28, 1919 in the Mirror Hall in the Palace of Versailles , built by Louis XIV for a lot of money as a demonstration of his power. The choice was not made by chance at Versailles - it was there that on January 18, 1871, after the end of the Franco-Prussian war, Otto von Bismarck proclaimed the creation of the German Empire , which dragged all of Europe into a future war. To sign the contract on the instructions of the Prime Minister of France, Georges Clemenceau, the floor of the hall was parqueted and covered with carpets from the time of Louis XIV, in addition, furniture was specially brought from the Champs Elysees, including a beautiful table and large armchairs. In a bloodless war and a completely exhausted country, in just a few hours, the Mirror Hall has become a worthy place for major diplomatic events. The signing of the contract at a rather chaotic and at the same time solemn ceremony took only 45 minutes in the presence of 27 delegations from 32 delegates, as well as more than a thousand dignitaries and representatives of the press. Recognizing its responsibility for the outbreak of war, Germany lost 68 thousand km² of its territory, together with 8 million people living in Alsace-Lorraine , as well as part of East Prussia given to Poland , pledged to pay 20 billion gold marks in compensation for the damage caused to France , lost power over the colonies and was forced to agree to the elimination of weapons. Dreaming of peace, the Allies only brought a new war closer, since only 20 years later humiliated Germany began to take revenge ^{[1] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]} .

The picture is painted in oil on canvas, and its dimensions are 152.4 × 127.0 cm ^[1] . The canvas captures the moment of signing the peace treaty, a demonstration by the leading representatives of the allied countries of their political will, determination and unity. Orpen deliberately avoided the image of the crowd, focusing only on a group portrait of political leaders, who turned out to be old bearded men in black tailcoats, sitting or standing at a long table in the dazzling interiors of the Mirror Hall in the Palace of Versailles. The composition of the picture is similar to the work of Leonardo da Vinci's “ Last Supper ”. Like Leonardo, Orpen seemed to break the monotony of a continuous line of table and chairs, highlighting the figures of the two signatories of the treaty from Germany. Above their heads is visible the inscription " The King Rules Alone, "referring to the endless debate in the negotiations that arose because the Allies could not compromise on the imposition of reparations, in addition to the fact that the German side insisted on the impossibility of paying them. Statesmen look rather small in a huge hall, the architectural extravagance of which was consciously emphasized by Orpen. He, like Rembrandt, uses sublime architecture to display both the insignificance of political efforts and the vanity and posturing of world leaders, occupying a little more than a quarter of the canvas. The real drama lies in the broken reflection of windows and sky in three mirror arches between two large columns, hinting at the fragility of the achieved world. It is noteworthy that the artist himself is visible in the reflection, except for whom, it seems, no one is interested in either politics or the moment of signing the peace, which has become the diplomatic facade of the real outcome of the war - millions of young people who died in European trenches ^{[1] [2] [ 3] [12]} .

Center, foreground, signing of the agreement ^{[1] [13]} :

• - member of the Center’s party , , Minister of Railways ;
• Herman Müller - member of the Social Democratic Party , .

From left to right, seated ^{[1] [13]} :

• General - Former US Army Chief of Staff ;
• Edward House - Advisor to the US President ;
• - Former and
• Robert Lansing - US Secretary of State ;
• Woodrow Wilson - President of the United States ;
• Georges Clemenceau - Prime Minister of France ;
• David Lloyd George - Prime Minister of Great Britain ;
• Andrew Bonard Low - Lord Seal of the Small Seal , future Prime Minister of Great Britain ;
• Arthur Balfour - Minister of Foreign Affairs , former Prime Minister of Great Britain ;
• Alfred Milner - ;
• George Barnes - Minister Without Portfolio, Leader
• Sayonji Kimmoti - Advisor to the Emperor of Japan , former Prime Minister of Japan .

From left to right, standing ^{[1] [13]} :

• Eleftherios Venizelos - Prime Minister of Greece ;
• Afonso Costa - Prime Minister of Portugal ;
• is a British journalist;
• - Canadian delegate;
• Nikola Pasic - former Prime Minister of Serbia , future Prime Minister of Yugoslavia ;
• Stephen Pichon - Minister of Foreign Affairs of France ;
• -
• - Minister for Indian Affairs ;
• Major General - ;
• Vittorio Emanuele Orlando - Prime Minister of Italy ;
• Paul Imans - Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium ;
• General Louis Botha - former Prime Minister of South Africa ;
• William Hughes is Australia's Prime Minister .

For the order Orpen was paid 3 thousand pounds , a record amount during the war for a work of art, while John Singer Sargent for one of his paintings " Poisoned by Gases " received only 300 pounds ^{[1] [2] [3]} . This painting, entitled “Signing the Peace in the Mirror Hall”, was written by Orpen in 1919 ^[1] . His second painting, entitled “ Peace Conference on the Embankment of Orsay ” also differs in the artist’s contempt for the assembled politicians, insignificant figures against the background of palace architecture ^[14] . Having finally become disillusioned with the ideas of the conference due to the delegates' posturing, Orpen erased the colorful layer from the finished third picture, and changed the subject as a demonstration of the growing gap between the official and public attitudes towards the legacy of the war ^{[2] [4]} , devoting a new work to “The Unknown British soldier in France ” ^[15] .

Currently, the painting “Signing the Peace in the Mirror Hall” is in the collection of the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth ( London , UK ) ^[1] . It is noteworthy that on the wall of the exhibition hall between the works of Orpen, “Signing the Peace in the Mirror Hall” and “Peace Conference on the Embankment of Orsay,” are Sargent's “Poisoned by Gas” ^[16] .

• "Signing the world in the Mirror Hall" (neopr.) . Imperial War Museum .