Focus on this artwork and explore the Background.
Orpen was one of the first people chosen as a war artist by the British Ministry of Information in 1917.  Orpen was also official painter at the Versailles peace conference, and was commissioned to paint three canvases to record the roles of the politicians, diplomats and military at the conference, for a fee of £6,000.  The other two works, A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay and The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919, are both group portraits depicting the participants at the conference.  
Orpen was deeply affected by the suffering he witnessed in France during the war, and grew to dislike the politicians at the conference.  To the Unknown British Soldier in France was originally intended to include a group of soldiers and statesmen in the Hall of Peace at the Palace of Versailles, including Admirals Beatty and Sturdee; Field Marshals Allenby, French, Haig and Plumer; Generals Cowans, Currie and Rawlinson; Lieutenant Arthur Rhys-Davids; David Lloyd George; Georges Clemenceau, and Marshals Pétain and Foch. Orpen had completed perhaps 30 portraits before he changed his mind and painted out the faces.  Over time, the faces have now become faintly visible again under the surface of the modified work.
A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay Ministry of Information Pétain Haig Rawlinson French The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors Palace of Versailles Beatty David Lloyd George Currie Cowans Georges Clemenceau Foch war artist Peace Conference Versailles The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919 Sturdee Plumer Allenby Arthur Rhys-Davids