Alburdi : Bardia

Alburdi Castle

This small castle, located on the cliff tops and overlooking the sea, is the home of John Brill's famous drawing of Bardia Mural. The building was undergoing renovation for most of the year (2009), and now looks nearly new and clean. The enclosure outside the entrance is the entrance to a hole or tunnel (see photo below) leading to the edge of the mountain.

This castle was said to have been a prison, or a building of some sort that was turned into or used as a prison during the second war; in which the walls of one cell have been painted by John F. Brill, using charcoal and boot or shoe polish. However, John's mother (see below) states that he was not a prisoner and that he used paint brought from Egypt to paint his murals.

 

 

Following this underground tunnel brings you right to the edge of the mountain, overlooking the sea (see photo below).

The above scene is exactly what you would see when you follow the tunnel right to the edge.

Alburdi Castle.

This Mural of a lady looking at herself in a mirror is not related to John Brill's murals.

John Frederick Brill: The British Painter-Soldier

John Brill was born in Essex, England, United Kingdom. His father, Frederick Brill, worked as a cashier for a company in Silvertown. His mother relates that he showed great interest in painting at a very early age. He studied art at several places, including the Regent Street Polytechnic, the Royal Academy, and the Royal College of Art. He then joined the army believing that to become a great artist one must suffer, and thus he found himself a Private in East Yorkshire Regiment's 5th Battalion; sadly only to die on the 1st of July 1942, at the age of 22, in the first day of the first battle of El Alamein.

According to his mother, John painted and drew many pictures while he was stationed in Alburdi, in Libya, during the war. Unfortunately, many of these drawings were lost forever, including the one he drew on the wall of an Italian church in Alburdi, which was destroyed during the Second World War.

Among the identified drawings are:

• A drunken man standing near a barrel of wine.
• A man wearing a hat and drinking a glass of wine.
• Buildings surrounded by soldiers and people.

However, there is one complete drawing that survived the wars, and is currently in display in his room in Alburdi Castle, and hence the name of the drawing: Bardia Mural. This drawing is shown next.

The Bardia Mural, by John Frederick Brill, 21/04/1942.

Photograph taken by Temehu.com's team in September 2009 (after completion of restoration work).

The drawing has deteriorated since Donald Simmonds took his photos of the drawing between 1961 and 1963, and even cracks appeared in the wall itself. But as I have mentioned above, renovation work at the castle is nearly completed; during which a group of Italian artists have cleaned the drawing, removed the graffiti, restored some of the blackness of the paint, replaced the broken plaster, and filled the crack that was present on the wall. The result: a work of art preserved for future generation to see. The room or the cell itself, in which the painting is to be found, appears to be turning into John Brill Museum, to which this webpage will be devoted to collect and publish related photos and information. [If you know of any related data or good links, please let us know at info at temehu dot com.]

                  J. BRILL             R.A.S.C.    21 4 42

His signature appearing just under the skulls, with the date 21/04/42, would give support to the theory that John Brill was a prisoner of war or/and under a death sentence when he painted this drawing in his prison cell, just 9 weeks before his death on the 1st of July 1942. Placing his signature just under the skulls, and not anywhere else in the drawing, strongly suggests that he was aware of his approaching death. However, according to his mother, these controversies are unfounded (see below).

It was suggested that the boxer could be a reference to John's interest in or his love for boxing. But it is equally valid that the boxer could be a reference to fighting and thus war. War (boxer), money (coins) and death (skulls) my represent the kind of life John Brill saw at the time, which we still see today, as opposed to love and peace, here symbolised by sad women.

Hands reaching for peace! Or longing for love! Or just wanting to go home.

According to Donald Simmonds (of http://www.don-simmonds.co.uk/ ), the title was purported to be "A Soldier's Dream of Home" but is now known to be "Pleasures of Avarice - Pleasures of Art".

However, according to the Wikipedia entry, the drawing is called: Bardia Mural; and that:

"John's mother . . . stated that he originally painted a mural on each of the "four walls of the lad's canteen, which represented 'A Soldier's leave in Cairo' . . . Following this the Officers asked John to create Murals in their Officer's Mess. According to John's mother the [Bardia Mural] represents one of these murals. The subjects being "The Pleasures of Avarice" and "The Pleasures of Art", and a third subject of "The Last Supper', "but this was never finished as his company was moved up the line." The Bardia Mural is likely to be one of these. [4] She goes on in her letter to state "I am thankful to say, that he was not under sentence of death, neither was he ever a prisoner." [4] She also states that the material used to create the various murals he painted during this period was paint, and not boot black; "paints were bought in Cairo, by the lads on leave and sent up by Convoy to Bardia." From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardia_Mural.

Skulls of dead humans and human faces mixed together,
as if both were from the same world.
Is there a difference between the living and the dead?
Not according to Brill.
Maybe he meant to say: the walking dead; rather than the dead living! Or Both!

 

 

The conductor. The white circle at the foot of the dancer is my highlight,
and is not part of the original work.

 

 

 

The room in which the drawing is exercised appears to be his battlefield, John's world, full of death and joy. Beyond the walls, lay the outside world, where he imagines his mother anxiously awaiting his return home!

Further Readings & Resources:

• Photos of Bardia trench: http://www.rommelinlibya.com/alburdi/burdi.html

• Old photos of the drawing taken between 1961 and 1963 by Donald Simmonds: http://www.don-simmonds.co.uk/ , and comments from readers at: http://www.don-simmonds.co.uk/comments.html

• Wikipedia article about John Brill and Bardia Mural: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frederick_Brill

• The Bardia Mural Letters: There are two letters that were sent to JW Seccombe by Elizabeth Brill, John Brill's mother. According to JW Seccombe, "As owner of the letter, I am putting this image of the letter into the Public Domain in their memory."
  The letters are to be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frederick_Brill