A STUNNING collection of artworks depicting the Lost Diggers of Vignacourt has been unveiled at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at HMAS Albatross.
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The portraits by acclaimed artist George Petrou were revealed as part of the Centenary of Naval Aviation commemorations, with Keith Payne VC and Chief of Navy Vice-Admiral Tim Barrett launching the exhibition.
The paintings are based thousands of glass negative plates of Anzac Diggers taken in the village of Vignacourt, Northern France.
Around six years ago investigative reporter Ross Coulthart discovered the lost images. The glass negative plates were found hidden in trucks in the attic of a French farmhouse.
French photographers Louis and Antoinette Thuillier had captured the images a century ago.
The Australian soldiers would go from the front lines and trenches to Vignacourt for rest and recuperation and they would have their photographs taken.
The search for the images and their return to Australia was the subject of a television documentary and Ross’ book “The Lost Diggers”.
Fleet Air Arm Museum manager and senior curator Terry Hetherington said the book inspired Mr Petrou’s artworks.
“A meeting between George and Ross led to this magnificent series of paintings based on the photographs,” he said.
“They simply are stunning.”
The collection features Anzacs such as Edward ‘Tiny’ John Falloon, Jim Holland, Angus Wilson, George Gordon Gilbert, Edward Herbert Lewis, Joseph Wood and Walter Ernest Theodore Spencer just to name a few.
“The exhibition has been travelling the country on display and gained rave reviews at its unveiling last weekend,” Mr Hetherington said.
The artworks will be on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum until October, after which they will be sold, either individually or as a collection.