Orpen’s portraits of early 20th century London “high-society” ladies can sell for hundreds of thousands of euro – and more – at auction. But his portraits of men – executed with the same brilliant skill – sell for a fraction of that.
Sir William Orpen, born in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, in 1878, was a leading portrait painter in London during the early 20th century and an official British artist of the first World War. His Portrait of Vivian Hugh Smith (1867-1956), later 1st Baron Bicester of Tusmore Park is among the lots in Whyte's auction of Irish and International Art in the RDS, Dublin on September 28th.
The oil-on-canvas, measuring 50ins by 40ins, is estimated at €10,000-€15,000.
For collectors who’d like to own an Orpen, his portraits of men – surely undervalued – are relatively affordable. According to auctioneer Ian Whyte,the painting is “as well executed as his portraits of women but at about one-tenth of the price”, and, he adds, “you could always hang it over the fireplace and pretend to guests that your grandfather had been painted by Orpen”.
The subject of this portrait is Vivian Hugh Smith, an English merchant banker (with Morgan Grenfell and Co) who was married to Lady Sybil Mary McDonnell, a daughter of the 6th Earl of Antrim. He was created a Baron in 1938 and chose his title to name himself after the estate he acquired – Tusmore Park near Bicester in Oxfordshire.
Whyte’s say the portrait “is one of the earliest commissions Orpen carried out after his return from the Peace Conference [which he famously painted for the British government] in Paris in 1919” .
The artist was privately frank about why he accepted the commission to paint Smith’s portrait: in a letter in July 1919 Orpen wrote to a friend: “I’m going back [to London] for three weeks early in September to paint two portraits. (I ain’t got any money).”
It’s not known how much Orpen was paid for the portrait which is a superb illustration of what a well-dressed businessman wore in London 96 years ago. Men’s fashion hasn’t changed radically in a century.
