Few people these days have heard of official First World War Artist, Cyrus Cincinato Cuneo.
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| Self Portrait |
Cyrus demonstrated artistic ability at an early age and worked hard to save enough money to go and study art in Paris. With his brother Rinaldo, Cyrus, who was very athletic, became a boxer, entering contests and winning prizes. Cyrus became a Flyweight Boxing Champion in San Francisco. By 1896, he had enough money to go to Paris where he enrolled at the Academie Colarossi and was a pupil of the American artist James Whistler (1834 – 1903).
Six years later, Cyrus went to live in England. In 1903, he married Nellie Marion Tenison, who was also an artist. The couple met in Paris where Nellie had also studied with Whistler.
In 1911, the couple lived in Uxbridge Road, Hammersmith, London with their two children Desmond and Terence, and Nellie's widowed mother, Frances Tenison. Cyrus worked as an illustrator for publications such as "The Strand Magazine" and the "Illustrated London News". He also produced illustrations for some of the best known writers of the era such as Arthur Conan Doyle, E.W. Hornung (both of whom were members of the J.M. Barrie recreational cricket team) and H. Rider Haggard, to name but a few. Cyrus was a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and his work was exhibited at The Royal Academy.
When King Edward VII died on 6th May 1910, Cyrus went without sleep for four nights and worked solidly to produce four double page spreads of the funeral for the "Illustrated London News".
When the First World War broke out, Cyrus became an official War Artist. One of his paintings was auctioned in 1915 and raised sufficient funds to purchase two ambulances which were sent to France bearing the inscription "The Cyrus Cuneo Ambulance".
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| “A Thrilling Charge”, illustration by Cyrus Cuneo from “Told in the Huts: The YMCA Gift Book”, published 1916 |
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| “Retreat from Serbia” by Cyrus Cuneo |
