'Goodbye, Old Man': Painting depicting a British soldier comforting his dying horse on a road, 1916
'Goodbye, Old Man': Painting depicting a British soldier comforting his dying horse on a road, 1916. . This painting by Italian artist Fortunino Matania was commissioned by the Blue Cross animal charity fund in 1916 to raise money for horses on active service in the British Army during the First World War. . Approximately 8 million horses were killed in the First World War, transporting guns, ammunition, resources and troops - dying to artillery strikes and exhaustion most of the time. A minority of horses were also killed as cavalry horses, charging into enemy barbed wire, rifle- and machine-gun fire. . For this deeply moving painting, I'll recite the poem "The Silent Volunteers" by British Lieutenant Leonard Fleming: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "NO less, real heroes than the men who died, Are you who helped the frenzied ranks to win; Galloping heroes - silently - side by side, Models of discipline. . You, too, had pals from whom you had to part, Pals rather young to f...