A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay

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A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay (William Orpen)
A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay
William Orpen , 1919
Oil on canvas
124 × 102 cm
Imperial War Museum

A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay (A Peace Conference on the Quai d'Orsay) is a group portrait of William Orpen (1878–1931), which he made on the occasion of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 after the end of the First World War . The painting is now in the Imperial War Museum in London .

prehistory

William Orpen (1903)

William Orpen was a Irish painter of the Post-Impressionism , which was mainly in London stayed and worked there. In the age of Edward VII he was a sought-after and commercially successful portrait painter . In 1917 Orpen was one of the first artists to be sent by the British Ministry of Information as a martial artist to France on the Western Front in order to capture the local war in paintings. The impressions of the war had a lasting impact on Orpen.

After the end of the war, Orpen was appointed the official portrait artist of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 at the special request of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George . He was commissioned to make three paintings to depict special moments in the negotiations. The most important work in this series is The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors , the signing of the peace treaty by the German envoy in the Mirror Hall of the Palace of Versailles represents. Orpen received a total of £ 3,000 for his work, around £ 140,000 today.

Historical background

The Paris Peace Conference from January 18, 1919 to January 21, 1920 had the goal of establishing the peace conditions after the end of the First World War . Those involved in the war had signed an armistice in November 1918. A total of 32 countries took part in the peace conference, including the British Dominions and British India . The highest body of the peace negotiations was the Council of Four , which was composed of the heads of government from Great Britain , France , Italy and the United States .

The peace negotiations were divided into two parts. In January 1919, the victorious Allied and Associated Powers began their deliberations on the goals and the further course of the peace negotiations in a preliminary conference. In May 1919 the peace negotiations with the defeated Central Powers and the successor states of the Danube Monarchy began in parallel and at different times . The preliminary conference took place on the Quai d'Orsay in the building of the French Foreign Ministry (Hôtel du ministre des Affaires étrangères) . On January 18, 1919, the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau opened the first plenary session in the clock room (Salon de l'horloge) .

  • Hôtel du ministre des Affaires étrangères 1931

  • Hôtel du ministre des Affaires étrangères 2005

  • Salon de l'horloge 1919

  • Salon de l'horloge 1919

The conference tables were arranged in a horseshoe shape. Representatives from Great Britain, France and the USA sat at the front of the table arrangement. Delegates from Allied countries and other stakeholders took their places on the two long sides. For the US President Woodrow Wilson , the basis of the negotiations was his 14-point program . a. the right of self-determination of the peoples and the establishment of a League of Nations . At the pre-conference, he explained his idea of an international organization that the peace by arbitration settle international conflicts, international disarmament and a system of collective security was to secure permanent.

The other victorious powers gave in to Wilson's insistence and agreed to the establishment of a League of Nations. A year later, the constituent meeting of the League of Nations took place in precisely these rooms on the Quai d'Orsay. However, the peace treaties with the Central Powers partially contradicted the peoples' right to self-determination. Even with his ideas about the freedom of the seas, Wilson could not prevail. The US Senate refused to ratify the treaties. Therefore the USA was never a member of the League of Nations.

Preliminary work

For the planned group portraits, Orpen sketched some statesmen in oil in advance and held numerous meetings for them. Some oil sketches are now in the National Portrait Gallery of London.

  • Emir Faisal

  • Arthur James Balfour

  • Louis Botha

  • Woodrow Wilson

The paintings

The scene shown takes place in the Salon de l'horloge of the French Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay. At a long table are the Big Four (Big Four) Vittorio Emanuele Orlando , Woodrow Wilson , Georges Clemenceau and David Lloyd George , with high-ranking British and American representatives between them. Behind it are important delegates from the other victorious powers and stakeholders. Not all participants in the peace conference are shown , only the most important representatives from Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Arabia and the USA.

A high, richly decorated and gilded room with chandeliers and pilasters extends above the delegate . In the middle, a large fireplace towers over those present. A clock is embedded in the mantelpiece, which gave the room its name. Above this, in a niche, extends the female personification of France, raising a torch. Left and right below her, two putti carry a globe and a scepter as symbols of power. Two other putti in the gable field hold a coat of arms adorned with oak leaves. Some details are difficult to see in the painting.

At first this painting appears as a typical group portrait in the style of the artist. Today this painting is viewed as a subtle satire , as the size and splendor of the room clearly dwarfs the statesmen depicted. The interior design takes up about 75% of the painting. It seems as if Orpen considers the assembled politicians vain and secretly despises them. The glamorous surroundings flatter those present in their importance, but at the same time make them appear small and sink into insignificance.

  • Personification of France

  • Detail of the painting

  • Mantelpiece with clock

Depicted people

Detail from the group portrait
  1. Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (1860–1952) was President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy from 1917 to 1919 . He was on the Council of Four , the highest body of the Paris Peace Conference. Due to his weak political position and his inadequate knowledge of English, Orlando only played a subordinate role and was unable to assert Italy's claim to Dalmatia, which was assured in the London Treaty of 1915 .
  2. Robert Lansing (1864-1928) was from 1915 to 1920 US Secretary of State (Secretary of State) and already took early the view that the US must work against Germany in the war, as the German Empire to rule the world aspire. Lansing later became head of the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. However , he did not support Wilson's idea of ​​the League of Nations , which is why he had to resign in 1920.
  3. Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) was the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921 and led the United States in the First World War on the side of the Allied Powers in 1917 . As a basis for the peace negotiations, he proposed a 14-point program . The foundation of the League of Nations to prevent further wars goes back to his initiative . In 1919 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
  4. Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) was from 1906 to 1909 and from 1917 to 1920 French Prime Minister of the Third Republic and from 1917 to 1920 also Minister of War . At the peace conference he advocated a tough policy towards the German Reich, demanded the cession of Alsace-Lorraine , the Saar region and the Rhineland and insisted on extensive reparation payments .
  5. David Lloyd George (1863-1945), British Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922 , represented a mediating position between Woodrow Wilson and Georges Clemenceau at the Paris Peace Conference. He advocated political punishment for Germany, but did not want to fragment the German Reich territorially or permanently damage it economically.
  6. Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923) was from 1911 to 1915 opposition leader in the House of Commons , 1915-1916 Colonial Secretary (Secretary of State for the Colonies), from 1916 to 1919 Chancellor of the Exchequer (Chancellor of the Exchequer), and from 1919 to 1921 Lord Privy Seal (Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal). He was a signatory to the Versailles Peace Treaty and was British Prime Minister from 1922 to 1923.
  7. Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930) was British Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905, from 1915 to 1916 First Lord of the Admiralty (First Lord of the Admiralty) and from 1916 to 1919 Foreign Minister (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs). He wrote the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which guaranteed the Jewish people in Palestine a national home. He was part of the British delegation to the peace negotiations.
  8. Paul Hymans (1865-1941), a Belgian politician , was appointed Special Envoy to the British Government in London in 1915 . In 1917 he took over the post of Minister of Economics and in early 1918 that of Foreign Minister in the Belgian government. He led the Belgian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference and became the first chairman of the League of Nations in 1920.
  9. Eleftherios Venizelos (1864–1936), multiple Prime Minister in Greece , tried to realize the idea of ​​Greater Greece ( Megali Idea ) alongside the Entente during World War I. In the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 Venizelos achieved a significant expansion of the Greek national territory, which was again destroyed by the defeat in the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922).
  10. Emir Faisal (1883–1933) fought together with TE Lawrence against the Ottoman domination in Palestine and Syria ( Arab revolt ). As head of the Arab legation, he advocated the independence of the Arabian Peninsula at the Paris Peace Conference . Together with Chaim Weizmann , he signed the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement , in which the Arab side accepted the Balfour Declaration .
  11. William Ferguson Massey (1856–1925) was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1912 until his death in 1925 . In 1914 he was appointed to the British Privy Council . Under his leadership, New Zealand took part in the First World War alongside Great Britain. He was a representative of the Dominion New Zealand at the Paris Peace Conference.
  12. General Jan Smuts (1870-1950) was a South African statesman Afrikaner descent and fought in the First World War it against the German troops in German East Africa . In 1917 David Lloyd George called him to the British War Cabinet in London . From 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948 he was Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa .
  13. Edward Mandell House (1858-1938) was President Wilson's principal foreign policy advisor and chief negotiator for the US delegation. At the peace conference, House gave the French little difficulty in realizing their war goals , although the US, as an associate member, was not obliged to comply with Allied agreements. House also played a central role in founding the League of Nations .
  14. Louis Botha (1862-1919) was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1919 . He supported Great Britain by sending troops to German South West Africa , later to East Africa and the Western Front . As a representative of the Dominion South Africa, he was involved in the negotiations on the Versailles Peace Treaty.
  15. Saionji Kimmochi (1849-1940), was a Japanese statesman and until 1912 twice Prime Minister of Japan . After Japan took part in the First World War on the side of the Allies, Japan was one of the victorious powers. Kimmochi was the head of the Japanese delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, at which Japan felt discriminated against and gradually turned away from the West.
  16. Billy Hughes (1862–1952) was Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923 . He called on the national conference for closer cooperation in the (Imperial conference) 1916 British Empire and thus became a pioneer of the Commonwealth of Nations . He took part in the Paris peace negotiations as a representative of Australia.
  17. Robert Borden (1854–1937) was the eighth Prime Minister of Canada between 1911 and 1920 . Borden supported Great Britain in the First World War with massive troop deployments and was able to upgrade Canada's status within the British Commonwealth .
  18. George Nicoll Barnes (1859-1940) was a member of the Cabinet of the Lloyd George Government from 1916 to 1920 , first as Minister of Pensions, later as Minister without Portfolio. He was part of the British delegation to the peace negotiations and signed the Versailles Peace Treaty.
  19. Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) was a Polish musician and politician. During the First World War he became the spokesman for the Polish National Committee in the USA and was able to convince President Wilson to make the re-establishment of Poland a key demand for the reorganization of Europe. As the first Prime Minister of the re-established Poland, he signed the Versailles Treaty for Poland.

More paintings from the series

William Orpen, as the official portrait artist of the Paris Peace Conference, made two more pictures:

literature

  • Charles L. Mee: 1919 Versailles: The End of the War to End All Wars. New Word City, Newbury 2014, ISBN 9781612307565 .

Web links

Commons : A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay  - Collection of images, videos and audio files