One of the greatest works produced by British war artist Christopher (CRW) Nevinson will go on sale at Sotheby’s Modern & Post-War British Art Sale on 21 November.

Entitled A Dawn, the powerful image depicts a unit of French infantry, bayonets fixed, marching through a town centre.

Vorticist masterpiece

A gripping example of Nevinson’s thought-provoking Vorticist style, the painting was first exhibited at the artist’s 1916 solo exhibition to an audience that included Sir Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw.

Simon Hucker, Sotheby’s senior specialist in modern & post-war British Art, said: ‘Nevinson’s A Dawn ranks alongside the Tate’s La Mitrailleuse and the Imperial War Museum’s French Troops Resting as the very best of the artist’s war paintings, works that define our vision of the Great War.

‘With the majority of Nevinson’s most important works in major museums, the term “museum-quality” can be applied with total confidence to this profoundly powerful painting. The auction represents a very rare opportunity for collectors.’

A Dawn was last on sale in 1964. It will be offered with an estimate of £700,000-1m.