The Response

Andy Farr

Acrylic on Canvas, 2014

 

This painting is based on the Renwick Memorial in Newcastle, sculpted by Sir William Goscombe John, 1923.

The war memorial commemorates the raising of the Commercial Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. As the soldiers marched from their camp they passed through the city,  along the Great North Road to the Central Station. Their route was lined by well-wishers and their parents, wives and children, some cheering, some weeping, as the “flower of their youth” went out to sacrifice itself on Europe's battlefields.

The central figures have been replaced with contemporary children , Fergus and Erin Sleight, to bridge the 100 year divide.