First Previous 10 OF 65 NextLast

Conversation piece (G.K. Chesterton; Maurice Baring; Hilaire Belloc)

10 of 65 portraits of G.K. Chesterton

Identify sitters

© National Portrait Gallery, London

5 Likes voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation Close

Conversation piece (G.K. Chesterton; Maurice Baring; Hilaire Belloc)

by Sir James Gunn
oil on canvas, 1932
59 1/2 in. x 43 1/2 in. (1511 mm x 1105 mm)
Given by Mrs George Balfour, 1960
Primary Collection
NPG 3654

Sittersback to top

Artistback to top

  • Sir James Gunn (1893-1964), Painter. Artist or producer of 11 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The idea for the portrait came to Gunn at a dinner to celebrate Belloc's 60th birthday; the completed work was shown at the Royal Academy in 1932.

Related worksback to top

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1932back to top

Current affairs

Sir Oswald Mosley forms the British Union of Fascists. Mosley's party - nicknamed the Black Shirts after their uniform - was founded along the lines of Mussolini's Fascist Party in Italy and called for the replacement of parliamentary democracy with a system of elected executives. During the war Mosley was interned and the BUF was proscribed.

Art and science

John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton 'split the atom'. In fact, Cockcroft and Walton's achievement was to change the nucleus of one element into another by bombarding it with protons, rather than to literally spit an atom apart. Nevertheless 'splitting the atom' has become the popular way of describing this important stage in the development of nuclear technology.

International

Saudi Arabia is formed by the unification of the Kingdoms of Hijaz and Nejd under King Abdul Aziz.
Iraq is granted independence from the British mandate established by the League of Nations in 1919-20.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.