Yale Center for British Art

Creator:: Print made by James McBey, 1883–1959, British
Title:: Albert
Date:: 1917
Materials & Techniques:: Etching with drypoint on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:: Sheet: 7 3/8 × 11 1/2 inches (18.7 × 29.2 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:: Inscribed in pen, lower left: "XVIII"; inscribed in graphite, lower left: "Albert"
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, The G. Allen Smith Collection, transfer from the Yale University Art Gallery
Copyright Status:: © Estate of the Artist
Accession Number:: B1994.4.1257
Classification:: Prints
Collection:: Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:: cityscape | military art | soldiers | destruction | ruins | statues | cathedral | war | world war | World War, 1914-1918
Associated Places:: Basilique Notre-Dame de Brebières | France | Albert
Currently On View:: Not on view
Exhibition History:: Doomed Youth The Poetry and the Pity of World War I (Yale Center for British Art, 1999-06-22 - 1999-09-26)
Gallery Label:: The print shows the market place among the ruins of Albert, with British soldiers in the foreground. The statue of the Virgin and Child on top of the cathedral had been knocked over at a precarious angle by a shell in 1915 but had not fallen to the ground. A legend grew that when the statue did fall, the war would end. It was finally brought to earth in the spring of 1918 when Albert fell to the Germans. The town was recaptured by the British on 22 August 1918. Gallery label for Doomed Youth The Poetry and the Pity of World War I (Yale Center for British Art, 1999-06-22 - 1999-09-26)
Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:23230