1280px-HMS_Castor._Wounded_Received_After_the_Battle_of_Jutland,_31st_May_1916_Art.IWMART2781
HMS Castor. Wounded Received After the Battle of Jutland, 31st May 1916 painting by Jan (Godfrey Jervis) Gordon Art.IWM ART 2781 Note from IWM: This scene of British wounded sailors being tended to during the Battle of Jutland is by the artist Jan Gordon. It was one of four paintings completed by Gordon on behalf of the Imperial War Museum’s Royal Navy Medical Section between 1918 and 1919. Each dealt with an aspect of Royal Navy medical activity in a variety of theatres of the First World War. Gordon was selected owing to his service with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the First World War, where he helped with the development of Dazzle ship camouflage in 1917. A year prior he and his wife, Cora, had volunteered for hospital service in The Balkans and assisted with the care of wounded Serbian soldiers. Both this and his naval service made Gordon a natural choice for the Royal Navy Medical Section commission though it is likely the artist created HMS Castor with the assistance of photographs, having not witnessed the battle itself. Gordon’s painting shows the wounded crew members being brought below deck, each bearing a variety of injuries and corresponding treatments.