This beautiful collection features images from the painting The Battle of Lone Pine by the renowned Australian artist Drew Harrison. The painting was commissioned by Military Shop and was completed in late 2012.

A truly authentic artwork
This year’s artwork by noted Australian artist Drew Harrison was commissioned especially for the 2013 Sands of Gallipoli Collection. It depicts the initial Lone Pine assault late in the afternoon of August 6 as three Australian battalions of the 1st Brigade storm open ground to challenge the main Turkish front trenches. Despite superb fortification by the Turks the Australian battalions took just 20 minutes to win the ground. Over the next three days a bloody battle ensued as Turkish soldiers relentlessly fought to regain the lost territory.

The Sands of Gallipoli historians for the 2013 collection, Brig. Chris Roberts, AM CSC (Rtd) and Graham Wilson, worked closely to ensure the accuracy of every detail in the acrylic-on-canvas painting and the battle’s written account reflected the reality of the terrain, the line of skirmish and the soldiers’ kit. The accuracy in the uniforms alone, hitherto undocumented in such detail in previous artwork of the battle, makes this a truly critical record of Australian military history.

Roberts believes the painting provides more historic detail than that of Fred Leist’s famous 1921 painting ‘The Taking of Lone Pine’. “Leist’s work was more stylised than detailed. This new work is equally as dramatic and evocative, yet it provides clear detail in every aspect. It faithfully captures the critical elements of the battle – the late afternoon light as they launch into no-man’s-land; our soldiers exposed as they tear away fortification above the Turkish trenches; the first lonely penetrations; the closeness of combat; and ultimately the mortality of war. This is a work to be studied.”

Roberts, who visited the site in 1988 before the redevelopments of later years, says the battlefield was - for the number of men involved – the smallest he had seen. “What is remarkable about the painting is how clearly you can appreciate the size of the battlefield. You are really looking at the entire area of the Lone Pine engagement.”

About the artist
Drew Harrison is a practicing artist based in Adelaide, South Australia. His formal illustrative training has provided a solid background for his evolution into contemporary artist. Acrylic paint is Drew’s medium of choice and a material that he has adeptly mastered for creating a wide range of works.

Learn more about Drew Harrison here.
To read the artists notes click here

10% of sales of the Sands of Gallipoli
The Battle of Lone Pine Collection will
be donated to Soldier On.