High Price for Anzac Artwork

An iconic Anzac painting has sold for more than twice its estimated price at an auction of wartime artworks in Sydney. Simpson and his Donkey by NZ artist Horace Moore-Jones was purchased for $120,000 by an anonymous buyer. The painting depicts an unknown wounded soldier on a donkey being led by an Anzac medic, with the Gallipoli peninsula in the background. Controversy surrounding the medic’s identity probably contributed to the unexpected sale price. While some believe the artwork represents John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a British-born medic with the Australian Field Ambulance, others claim it is taken from a photograph of NZ Field Ambulance medic Dick Henderson, who replaced Kirkpatrick. Moore-Jones produced five originals of the painting in 1917 while living in Dunedin.