ZONNEBEKE. OCT: 1917

One of Australia's finest equine painters, Harold Septimus Power was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1877. He recieved little formal education, and was practically self-taught. It is not known when he arrived in Australia, but his first commission, for the Art Gallery of South Australia, was in 1903. Power studied in Paris in 1905-7 where he gained his ability and passion for painting animals, and in particular, horses. He held his first solo exhibition in 1913 at the Guild Hall, Melbourne. On the outbreak of the Great War, Power was appointed along with George Lambert as official war artists by the Australian government. With his remarkable ability to create dramatic and striking compositions while diligently studying human and animal anatomy, Power was particularly suited to this job.

Zonnebeke in Belguim witnessed some of the most ferocius fighting of the Great War. The 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was one of the major battles of World War I, fought by British, ANZAC, and Canadian soldiers against the German army. The plan was to drive a hole in the German lines and advance to the Belgian coast in order to capture the German submarine bases. The battle symbolisees the horrific nature of the great battles of the First World War. The Germans lost approximately 270,000 men, while the British Empire forces lost about 450,000, including 36,500 Australians.
Sir Geoffrey Bates's father, Major Cecil Bates (1882-1935) served with the Royal Horse Artillery in Flanders in 1915-17.