The following description has been prepared entirely by the current owner, Roberts S. Fastov, Esq., and, at the collector’s request, has not been edited by Sloans & Kenyon

Note 1) Askart.com provides the following biographical essay on Sir William Orpen, which starts with: “One of the greatest painters in the history of Irish art, Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, was a skillful and sympathetic Irish portraitist of the traditional school of academic art.” and ends with: “Orpen died in 1931, aged 53. He remains one of the most influential and highly valued Irish artists by collectors and other portraitists.”

“Sir William Orpen (1878-1931)

One of the greatest painters in the history of Irish art, Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, was a skillful and sympathetic Irish portraitist of the traditional school of academic art. During a lifetime devoted to portrait art, he painted about 600 portraits, including those of David Lloyd-George (British Prime Minister), Woodrow Wilson (US President) and Sir Douglas Haig (British commander in WWI).

Born in Stillorgan, County Dublin, the son of a solicitor, William Orpen studied drawing and painting at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and later figure drawing and figure painting at the Slade School of Art in London under Henry Tonks, where he studied the Old Masters, with particular emphasis on portraits from the Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical and nineteenth century eras. He quickly developed into an excellent draughtsman and achieved rapid initial success, establishing himself in London among the rich as a much sought-after portrait artist

In 1910 he was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy of Art. Although his art studio was in London, he also spent time in Ireland and influenced (among others) the Irish realist painter and portrait artist Sean Keating.

After the outbreak of the First World war, Orpen, like John Lavery, was appointed an official war painter and given the rank of Major. During his stay on the Western Front, he completed numerous drawings and paintings of private soldiers as well as official portraits of generals and politicians. Other notable paintings included Dead Germans in a Trench, Members of the Allied Press Corps, and Ready to Start. Most of these paintings now hang in the collection of the Imperial War Museum in London. Following the armistice Orpen was made official portrait artist to the Versailles Peace Conference, where he completed several works including for The Signing of the Peace.

Orpen was deeply affected by the suffering he witnessed in the war. His feelings and misgivings about the treatment of common soldiers was evidenced by his painting To the Unknown British Soldier Killed in France, first exhibited in 1923. This picture portrayed a flag-draped coffin flanked by a pair of ghostly and wretched soldiers clothed only in tattered blankets, set against the opulent backdrop of the Paris Peace Conference. Although the work was widely admired by the general public, it was attacked by the authorities, and Orpen was forced to paint out the soldiers before the picture was accepted by the Imperial War Museum.

In 1919 (before he produced his controversial painting), Orpen was elected a member of the Royal Academy and returned to his portrait painting practice and continued painting London's elite, including the British wartime Prime Minister David Lloyd-George (1926). Some of his post-war portraits are viewed by art critics as perhaps rather shallow. If true, it is attributed to the effect of his wartime experiences, after which nothing really mattered.
Orpen died in 1931, aged 53. He remains one of the most influential and highly valued Irish artists by collectors and other portraitists.

Source:
Online Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art (Emphasis added).”

Note 2) Some of Orpen's very sensitive and/or dramatic pencil or watercolor studies and or portraits or pictures of people in action often bring several thousand dollars at auction. See, e.g.:

Title/Subject: Unsigned. Ink on paper. 8.23 in. x 7.01 in. sold for $16,197 on 03/22/2012 at Christie’s London

Title/Subject: Kneeling Figure Of A Woman-Study For The Holy Well Signed. Pencil on paper. 23.03 in. x 18.50 in. sold for $$22,608 on 5/07/2009 at Sotheby’s, London

The following auction records of Orpen's finished oil portraits often command well in excess of $100,000 and some have exceeded $1,000,000, e.g.:

Title/Subject: Portrait Of Rose, Fourth Marchioness Of Headfort Signed. Oil on canvas. 50.39 in. x 38.19 in. sold for $934,970 on 05/10/2012 at Sotheby’s, London

Title/Subject: 'In Dublin Bay': Portrait Of The Artist's Wife Signed. Oil on canvas. 41.50 in. x 32.75 in. sold for $1,370,500 on 1/27/2010 at Christie’s, NY

Title/Subject: Count John McCormack, 1923 Signed and dated. Oil on canvas. 40.94 in. x 34.02 in. sold for $$543,930 on 05/08/2009 at Christie’s London

On the other hand, his relative stiff, purely representational, almost photographic portraits of known and unknown men dressed in business attire, which manifest little or no emotion or sensitivity on the part of Orpen sometimes will sell for several thousand dollars, but sometimes will not sell or often fetch only a few thousand dollars, e.g.:

Title/Subject: Portrait Of Sir Ernest Benn Signed. Oil on canvas. 39 ½ in. x 33 ½ in. sold for $7,500 on 6/16/2012 at Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Hillsborough, NC

Title/Subject: Mr. Danby, Solicitor Signed. Oil on canvas. 14 ¾ in. x 12 in. did not sell on 6/14/2011 at Waddington’s, Toronto, Canada

Title/Subject: Portrait of Claude Bishop Signed. Oil on canvas. 42.24 in. x 38.50 in. sold for $17,172 on 5/28/2008 at Christie’s London

This auction lot, “A Study in Brown,” is a very subtle, obviously sketched rather quickly, but a very personal and sensitive finished portrait study of a two views of a little boy's face, and it is an oil on canvas. Orpen's portrait of Master Spottiswoode (Oil on canvas. 38 in. x 30 in.; private collection) manifests a similar sensitivity in the rendition of his face:

In the Portrait of Mr. John Drum, Jr., which failed to sell for a presale estimate of £ 50,000-80,000 on 5/12/2006, per Artprice.com, also displays Orpen's sensitive response to a young boy and his face:

Title/Subject: Portrait of Mr. John Drum, Jr. Signed. Oil on canvas. 36 in. x 30 in., with a presale estimate of 50,000-80,000, failed to sell on 5/12/2006 at Christie’s London

Orpen's portraits of young girls are also very sensitive, subtle studies, which can bring good prices at auction, per Artprice.com:

Title/Subject: Miss Annie Harmsworth In An Interior Signed. Oil on canvas. 36 1/4 in. x 28 in. sold for $60,500 on 5/16/1996 at Sotheby’s, London

Title/Subject: Portrait Of Miss Harmsworth In A Landscape Unsigned. Oil on canvas. 36 1/4 in. x 28 in. sold for $65,200 on 6/28/1995 at Christie's-Hamilton Osborne King, Dublin, Ireland

Orpen's sensitive portrayals of young boys and girls is even more manifest in his pencil and/or watercolor studies. See, e.g., per Artprice.com below. The presale estimate for “A Study in Brown” of $15,000-$30,000 is based, in essence, on the prices obtained for these studies, as adjusted slightly upward, to allow for the fact that the Orpen's study of two views of a little boy's face being offered at this auction was rendered, in essence, as final studies and they are painted in oil, not pencil or watercolor, which, as a rule, always bring a significantly lower price at auction, than an oil painting. If the reader has read and evaluated all of that which was stated and illustrated in this Note, he or she should conclude that such estimate is reasonable and justifiable and bid accordingly.

Title/Subject: Study Of An Irish Girl Signed. Sanguine, black and white conte crayon on paper. 17.75 in. x 12.63 in. sold for $25,000 on 06/22/2008 at Samuel T. Freeman & Co, Philadelphia

Title/Subject: Grace And Mary, The Artist's Wife And Daughter/Sunny Weather Signed. Watercolors on paper. 13 in. x 19 1/4 in. sold for $137,547 on 5/15/2003 at Christie’s London

Title/Subject: Portrait Of A Kneeling Boy Signed. Pencil, ink on paper. 18 1/4 in. x 12 5/8 in. sold for $17,000 on 10/29/2002 at Sotheby’s, NY

Title/Subject Portrait Of A Young Girl, Seated: Signed. Pencil on paper. 14 1/6 in. x 10 in. sold for $15,831 on 5/18/2001 at Sotheby’s, London

Title/Subject: Arthur Walter James, As A Boy, Full-Length, Seated Cross Legged Signed. Pencil and watercolor on paper. 13 3/8 in. x 13 3/4 in. sold for $25,905 on 5/16/2001 at Christie’s London

Title/Subject: Kit Signed. Watercolor, pencil, pen & black & sepia inks/paper on paper. 13 3/4 in. x 10 7/8 in. sold for $14,220 on 9/28/1994 at Sotheby’s, London