WORLD WAR I – COUNCIL OF FOUR. Photograph signed by David Lloyd George (‘D Lloyd George’), Georges Clemenceau (‘G Clemenceau’) and Woodrow Wilson (‘Woodrow Wilson’), n.p. [Versailles], n.d. [1919].

WORLD WAR I – COUNCIL OF FOUR. Photograph signed by David Lloyd George (‘D Lloyd George’), Georges Clemenceau (‘G Clemenceau’) and Woodrow Wilson (‘Woodrow Wilson’), n.p. [Versailles], n.d. [1919].

365 x 410mm, photographic reproduction, stamped ‘Signal Corps U.S.A.’. Provenance: Christie’s, New York, 19 December 2002, lot 344.

The ‘Big Four’: a large-format photograph from the 1919 Paris Peace Conference signed by the leaders of Britain, France and America. The famous image of the four principal Allied diplomats – the ‘Big Four’, as they were dubbed by the international press – at the Versailles Conference. From left to right they are: David Lloyd George (1863-1945), Premier Vittorio Orlando (1860-1952) of Italy, Premier Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) and President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Wilson have each signed under their respective figures. While the Allies at the Paris Peace Conference made up more than twenty nations, the Big Four were the leading architects of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed by Germany on 28 June 1919.