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Charles André Marie Joseph de Gaulle; Winston Churchill

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© Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby's London

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Charles André Marie Joseph de Gaulle; Winston Churchill

by Cecil Beaton
bromide print, 13 November 1944
9 3/8 in. x 9 3/8 in. (239 mm x 238 mm)
Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, 1991
Photographs Collection
NPG x40056

Sittersback to top

Artistback to top

  • Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), Photographer, designer and writer. Artist associated with 1112 portraits, Sitter associated with 361 portraits.

This portraitback to top

In the November following the liberation of Paris, Churchill travelled to France and together with General de Gaulle laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe on the anniversary of the Great War armistice. Cecil Beaton, an official war photographer for the Ministry of Information, photographed them two days later inspecting French troops on the Vosges front in heavy snow. Accepted in lieu from the estate of Eileen Hose, 1991.

Placesback to top

  • Place made and portrayed: France (Vosages front, eastern France)

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1944back to top

Current affairs

London is hit by the V1 Flying Bomb. This weapon, developed by the German Luftwaffe and colloquially known as the 'Buzz Bomb', or 'Doodlebug', was the first guided missile and was used for attacks on targets in England and Belgium.

Art and science

Laurence Olivier's epic film version of Henry V is released. Olivier directed and starred in the film, which was partly funded by the British government in recognition of its morale-boosting patriotic appeal. The cast included service men as Henry's army.

International

France is liberated from German-occupation following the Battle for Normandy. Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied-France led by Field Marshall Montgomery, was the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million soldiers crossing the channel from England to France. Troops landed on the 6th June (D-Day), and Paris was liberated in late August.

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