George Washington Lambert, “Ajzacs Bathing in the Sea”, 1914, Oil on Canvas, 26.3 x 36 cm, The Elliott Collection Australia
The 1916 painting “Anzacs Bathing in the Sea” by George Lambert depicts three Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, ANZAC, soldiers bathing at Anzac Cove during the Gallipoli Campaign during World War 1. The Gallipoli Campaign was fought in the Dardanelles, not far from ancient Troy and in depicting the soldiers naked, Lambert alludes to the heroes and legends of Greek myths.
Geroge Washington Lambert accepted a position as an official war artist from the Australian government in 1917, in the midst of the first World War. In this role, Lambert travelled after the war’s end to Palestine in 1918 and to Gallipoli in Turkey in 1919. This particular painting is dated 1916 so appears to have been painted from imagination while Lambert was in London