Artist-soldier is the term used to describe professionally trained artists who abandoned their artistic careers to serve on the frontlines.

Percy Delf Smith arrived on the Western Front in late 1916 where he was posted to the Somme with the Royal Marines as a gunner. Shortly after his arrival he began sketching without authorisation. This activity was quickly noticed by Captain High Boffey but tolerated.

Smith received care packages from his parents, and among the usual letters and magazines from home, were smuggled copper etching plates.

Smith is best known for his Dance of Death series (pictured below) which he created and published in 1919. His ability to conceive and execute drypoint etchings in an active warzone to a high degree was never attempted by any other artist-soldier during the war.

The works which survive are an exceptional example of what could be achieved in the harshest of environments and provide a poignant, stark reminder of what frontline soldiers experienced.

Right: Percy Delf Smith, Solitude, printing ink on paper