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| A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay | |
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| Artist | Sir William Orpen |
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 102 cm × 104 cm (40 in × 41 in) |
| Location | Imperial War Museum,London |
A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay is anoil-on-canvas painting by Irish artistWilliam Orpen, completed in 1919. It was one of the paintings commissioned from Orpen to commemorate theParis Peace Conference in 1919. The work is held by theImperial War Museum, inLondon.
Orpen was one of the first people chosen as awar artist by the BritishMinistry of Information in 1917. Orpen was also official painter at the peace conference, and was commissioned to paint three canvases to record the roles of the politicians, diplomats and military at the conference.
The work is a group portrait depicting preliminary discussions of the "Council of Ten", comprising two delegates each from Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan. Conference delegates are depicted sitting and standing around a table in the Hall of Clocks at the FrenchMinistry of Foreign Affairs at theQuai d'Orsay in Paris, where the conference was formally opened on 18 January 1919. The politicians and diplomats are overshadowed by the decorated room, with chandeliers, lavish gilded cornice, and a statue ofVictory above an ornate fireplace. It measures 124.4 × 101.9 centimetres (49.0 × 40.1 in)
The people depicted are:
Seated, from left to right:
Standing behind, from left to right:
Orpen's other paintings of the conference depict the signing of theVersailles Peace Treaty in theHall of Mirrors at thePalace of Versailles, and another showing a coffinlying in state in a marble hall covered by aUnion Flag.
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