The Battle of Britain by Paul Nash, lithograph

This print published by the National Gallery was lithographically produced at the Curwen Press after Paul Nash's major oil painting, 'The Battle of Britain' (1941, Imperial War Museums). This was one of four ambitious, large-scale war pictures Nash painted for the Ministry of Information (MOI) as an Official War Artist.

When the Second World War began, Nash was one of Britain’s leading modern painters. In the early years of the war he completed two series of watercolours for his War Artist commission with the Air Ministry. Following the termination of that contract, Nash was invited by Sir Kenneth Clark, Chairman of the War Artists' Advisory Committee, to continue his aerial subjects for the MOI, producing "piece work" (single oil paintings). Nash based his allegorical representation of the Battle of Britain on source imagery, documents and first-hand accounts. He painted it for propagandist effect and encouraged the MOI to circulate the image in large editions of prints and postcards. Artist copyright: Crown (expired). Image copyright: RAF Museum.