painting, Over the Top, Neuville-Vitasse
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19710261-0056
- Event 1914-1919 First World War
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer Bastien, Lieutenant Alfred Theodore Joseph
- Date Made 1918
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Art
- Department Art and Memorials
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1918/01/01
- Latest 1918/12/31
- Inscription (Recto, lower right, in red paint): Alfred Bastien; 1918. (Verso, stamped on canvas back): Canadian War Memorials, Ottawa (in oval shape); in centre of oval: 51; on excess canvas fold over at back, left centre, in graphite: 362; on stretcher, upper centre: stamp: same as for verso; in blue crayon: NO 362 BASTIEN "Over The Top" (reads upside down); (right centre, in black felt pen): 3-2A; (stencilled in black paint): 362; (lower centre, stencilled in black paint): 362; (left centre, stencilled in black paint): 362; (on vertical crossbar, stencilled in black paint twice): 362; (in blue crayon): A (check mark); (on horizontal crossbar, in blue crayon): 90 x 55; (stencilled in black paint: 362); (on backing board: paper label): Examined by the Canadian Conservation; Institute, 1984; (in black felt pen): Acc. 8058
- Medium oil
- Support canvas
- Materials Not applicable
- Service Component Canadian Expeditionary Force
- Unit 22nd Canadian Infantry Battalion
- Measurements Height 140.5 cm, Width 229.6 cm
- Caption Over the Top, Neuville-Vitasse, 1918
- Additional Information Alfred Bastien served in the Belgian Army from 1915. Designated an official artist in 1916, he was placed at the disposal of the Canadian War Records Office in October 1917 and assigned to paint for the Canadian War Memorials Fund. Most of his time was spent with the French-speaking 22nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, one result of which was Over the Top, Neuville-Vitasse. Neuville-Vitasse, located just south of Arras, was the site of heavy fighting in 1918.
- Caption Over The Top
- Additional Information Neuville-Vitasse was a heavily-fortified German village that anchored the Drocourt-Quéant Line. The 22nd Battalion attacked east of here in late August 1918. Georges Vanier, later the Governor General of Canada, always maintained that he was the officer holding the pistol in the front of the painting.