"The First Wounded"

by John Lavery

Lavery was appointed as an official war artist during the Great War. This painting shows a hospital where there are several wounded soldiers, and nurses caring for them. It reflects the beginning of the war, because the hospital is not overrun with the wounded. World War I had a huge amount of wounded, one of the bloodiest wars that the world has ever seen. However, the horrors of the war are portrayed in this picture. The man at the lower right of the painting has his head almost entirely covered in bandages, showing that there were serious injuries resulting from the new weaponry invented during this time.