LONDON: A painting of two Indian soldiers who served in World War-1 is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found. An export bar has now been placed on the portrait to allow time for a UK institution to acquire the work, according to an official statement.
It is an unfinished portrait by Philip de László valued at £ 650,000, according to a press release from UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay.
The painting appears to have been created for de László’s own collection and it remained in his studio until he died in 1937, it said. Battle of the Somme: The painting depicts cavalry officers Risaldar Jagat Singh and Risaldar Man Singh, the statement said, adding that they were junior troop commanders in the British Indian Army’s Expeditionary Force who served at the Battle of the Somme and are presumed to have died in action.
The soldiers sat for the artist in London two months before being sent to France to fight. The painting is extremely rare in depicting active Indian participants in the First World War, it stated.
