Sir William Orpen (1878-1931)

Aliases: William Orpen; William Newenham Montage Orpen; William Newenham Montague Orpen

Professions: Figure painter; Portrait painter; Painter; Landscape painter; Caricaturist

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  Sir William Orpen, R.A., R.H.A.

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  SIR WILLIAM ORPEN, R.A., R.H.A. 1878-1931

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  Sir William Orpen, R.H.A., R.A. (1878-1931)

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  Sir William Orpen, R.H.A., R.A. (1878-1931)

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Sir William Orpen Biography

(b oriel, blackrock, co. dublin, 27 nov 1878; d london, 29 sept 1931). irish painter. he attended the metropolitan school of art, dublin (1891–7), and the slade school of art, london (1897–9), there winning the composition prize of 1899 with the play scene from hamlet (houghton hall, norfolk). he became a friend of augustus john and joined the new english art club. from very early years he had been an impassioned student of the old masters, and he went to paris with john in 1899 to see leonardo da vinci’s mona lisa (paris, louvre). in the following years his perception of their works—in particular those of rembrandt, goya, velázquez, chardin, hogarth and watteau—became sophisticated. orpen learnt much from the old masters without losing the personal character of his own work. the influence of velázquez, in particular, is apparent in such early genre subjects as the mirror (1900; london, tate). his bravura portrait style was probably also indebted to manet: his homage to manet (1909; manchester, c.a.g.) was a group portrait of members of the new english art club, including philip wilson steer, walter richard sickert, dugald sutherland maccoll and henry tonks, sitting beneath manet’s portrait of eva gonzalès (london, n.g.). orpen was financially one of the most successful, and eventually one of the most honoured, portrait painters working in britain in the 20th century. his vast and fashionable portrait practice destroyed his critical reputation, but a number of his portraits are outstanding, such as ray lancaster and lloyd george (both london, n.p.g.), and the self-portrait, orpsie boy, you’re not as young as you were, my lad, paris 1924 (1924; priv. col., see arnold, p. 413). (for an example of his portraits see diploma work.)

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