Southern Railway steamers as hospital ships awaiting the wounded while Dunkirk burns

Painting, oil on canvas, Southern Railway steamers equipped as hospital ships await the wounded while Dunkirk burns, by Charles Pears, about 1946. A scene in the Second World War depicting two passenger ferries, painted white with red crosses on the side, alongside the harbour at Dunkirk during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force in June 1940. In the background is the Fort Risban lighthouse. Searchlights sweep the sky, which is mostly obscured by a massive cloud of smoke, beams of searchlights. Parts of two other ships berthed in the harbour are visible. Two spouts of water from falling bombs shoot up from the sea. Signed at bottom left "Chas Pears". Unframed.