Department: Visual Art

This pencil drawing is a study for the oil painting of the same title in the collection. The scene was based on a real event during the defence of the Belgian city Liege in the First World War. Walter Sickert was confined to England during the war and was unable to become a solider due to being born in Germany. He regarded himself as a military painter and spent this time in London, working in his studio in Red Lion Square, where he painted scenes of the war.