During World War One the urgent need for hospital beds owing to the high number of casualties meant many stately homes were converted to hospitals. Even Edinburgh Castle found room for a 70 bed military hospital complete with operating theatre.
These hospitals treated German casualties as well as Allied casualties. For instance, in January 1915 HMS Arethusa hit the German cruiser Blucher at the Battle of Dogger Bank. The Arethusa picked up 260 survivors from the Blucher and over 100 were treated at Edinburgh Castle.
Artist’s Response
HMS Arethusa was the name ship of the Arethusa class of light cruisers, and the only member of the class to be sunk during the First World War. Arethusa played a part in the battle of Dogger Bank, 24 January 1915. Later she returned to the scene and rescued 260 survivors.
I wanted to represent the two battleships in the North Sea. To be able to do that I recreated the battleship game with the illustration of the boat in the middle. Thinking to use a specific technique: etching soft ground & Chine-collé, to be able to recreate the chaos of the war.
Cristiana Messina
Edinburgh Printmakers Artist
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Based In Edinburgh, Cristiana attended a three year course of illustration and animation at IED MILANO, European Institute of Design (2013) and a course in “The Art and Craft of Children’s Fiction” in The University of Edinburgh (2017) .
After finishing her studies in 2013 she divided between 2D animation, illustration for children, graphics and realization of creative workshops for children. She loves art and horses. She has always lived her life around these two parallel worlds, trying to work with horses and bringing forward her artistic projects. Now her main goal is grow as an artist.
