On London River, 1918 (watercolour on card)

Creator: Herbert Barnard John Everett During the First World War, John Everett was at first unable to sketch outdoors due to wartime security regulations, but in the spring of 1918, the Ministry of Information asked him to depict London river scenes. This busy river scene shows a wealth of steam vessels of various sizes, painted in vibrant dazzle camouflage. In the foreground, a bargeman draws the viewer’s eye into the composition, but also gives a sense of the scale of the ships. Dazzle was a type of camouflage developed by the artist Norman Wilkinson in 1917, in response to the heavy losses sustained by British merchant ships to German U-boat submarines.