Armistice Day, November 11th, 1918, Grosvenor Place, London

Sir John Lavery was an official war artist during the Great War, painting the fleet, air defences, and munitions factories. He was dogged by ill health and by the time the Armistice came in November 1918, he was a patient at St George’s Hospital, overlooking Hyde Park Corner. So when all the crowds fanned out on to the streets on Armistice Day, he had a bird’s-eye view that enabled him to paint this informal, impressionist rendering of the scene.