Poignant Gallipoli work fetches $257k at auction

The famous World War I painting by Horace Moore-Jones went to a local buyer and will stay in New...
The famous World War I painting by Horace Moore-Jones went to a local buyer and will stay in New Zealand. Photo NZME.
A painting that symbolises the pain and tragedy of the failed World War 1 Gallipoli campaign was sold yesterday to an undisclosed bidder.

Simpson and his Donkey, painted by Horace Moore-Jones, was listed with an estimated price of $150,000 - $200,000 and was eventually sold for $257,950.

The International Art Centre, where the auction was held, were unable to confirm who the buyer was and whether the painting would remain in New Zealand.

The painting depicts a medic using a donkey to transport a wounded soldier at Gallipoli to a first aid post and was painted in around 1917.

Moore-Jones initially believed the Anzac medic was John Simpson Kirkpatrick, an Englishman who enlisted with the Australian Imperial Forces when war broke out.

However, the medic in the painting is actually Richard Henderson, a Waihi-born man who was a teacher in Auckland when he enlisted in 1914.

Moore-Jones painted Simpson and his Donkey from a photograph taken by Dunedin medic, James Jackson, who admitted the man in the photo was in fact Henderson.

Moore-Jones was known as "Sapper", even when he was in London in 1916 displaying his paintings and having a private audience with King George.

He remained an enlisted man, helping the sick as he worked as a field artist.

Moore-Jones died in a Hamilton fire in 1922 still believing he had painted Simpson.

 

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