An artist’s insight into First World War Italy

William Joseph Brunell, Young Italian Woman Employed by the British Army in Italy, November 1918. Courtesy: Imperial War Museum Archant

The Estorick Collection reopens following a five month refurbishment with new exhibition of rarely displayed artwords

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The Estorick Collection reopens following a five month refurbishment with a new exhibition of 75 rarely displayed artworks revealing the role of British forces in Italy during World War I.

War in the Sunshine: The British in Italy 1917-1918 includes 24 drawings and paintings by war artist Sydney Carline and 50 images by war photographers W.J. Brunell and Ernest Brooks on loan from the Imperial War Museum.

Ernest Brooks was an official photographer on the Western Front, best known for iconic images of British forces at the Somme and Passchendaele.

His pictures taken in Italy are less widely known and depict both the struggle of front-line troops and the effects of war on dispossessed Italian civilians.

War in the Sunshine is curated by Dr Jonathan Black, an expert in British art in the First World War, and runs January 13 to March 19.

Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, 39a Canonbury Square, N1 2AN. Open Wednesday-Sunday, estorickcollection.com.