The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28 June 1919
William Orpen, 1919
William Orpen painted this canvas in 1919 to record the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919 in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. As the official painter at the peace conference that formally ended the First World War, he was commissioned to produce three works on the proceedings, and this is one of them. The group brings together soldiers, diplomats and politicians from several countries, arranged in a composition that reflects the hierarchies and alignments of the conference. In the foreground, a German representative signs the document while another leans over beside him; behind them, delegates of the victorious powers fill tiered rows. The monumental room, with its mirrors and baroque decoration, makes the figures look small, a effect Orpen appears to have intended, since he reportedly disliked the politicians he portrayed. Orpen himself appears as an indistinct figure in the distorted mirrors. The painting is held by the Imperial War Museum in London and offers a visual record of the atmosphere of the negotiations.
- Painter
- William Orpen
- Date
- 1919
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 152 × 127 cm
- Museum
- Imperial War Museums
- Genre
- portrait, group portrait, history painting
- Depicts
- Stephen Pichon, David Lloyd George, Billy Hughes, Hall of Mirrors, Louis Botha, Bonar Law, Arthur Balfour, Eleftherios Venizelos
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