The William Roberts Society

William Roberts:

The Salute

Illustration © The Estate of John David Roberts. Reproduced with the permission of the William Roberts Society. Catalogue information based on the catalogue raisonné by David Cleall. For this and full details of the exhibitions cited, see the links below.

The Salute, c.1963
Oil on canvas, 59.7 cm x 49.5 cm

The Tate Gallery's online catalogue entry for Roberts's Trooping the Colour 1958–9 notes that 'Roberts's painting "The Salute" . . . is a self-portrait in which Roberts associates his military service with his work as a painter. Inscribed "The Ex-service Man" by Roberts on a label on the reverse, it shows him standing in front of a blank, stretched canvas, saluting. He wears a cap, and pinned on his jacket are the Allied Victory Medal 1914–19 and the British War Medal 1914–18, both of which were awarded to Roberts and still in his possession at his death.' Roberts appears to be saluting with the wrong hand, and the image of George V on his War Medal is reversed, because he seems to have decided not to correct his image as seen in a mirror while painting this picture.
PROVENANCE: Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (A. M. and A. R. Ragless Bequest Fund, 1964)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Royal Academy 1963, Melbourne 2007