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36
Sir WilliamOrpen RHA RA (1878-1931)
Lord George Hell
Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 66 cms (30 x 26”)
Signed
Literature:
!e Art of a Nation:!ree Centuries of Irish Painting
, Pyms Gallery, London, June
2002, cat.no.30
Lord George Hell
is the principal character in Max Beerbohm’s
!e Happy Hypocrite
, who falls
in love with the dancer, Jenny Mere, an ingénue in the seedy world of corrupt impresarios.
A Regency reprobate, he sets about to woo her, but in order to do so, must wear a mask to
cover a pock-marked face. When he succeeds in his task and the mask is removed, his face
has miraculously healed and become ‘saintly’ - such is the power of love. !e story was
published in 1896 followed by a one-act dramatised version at the Royalty !eatre in 1900.
Orpen’s &rst version of the subject is likely to have been inspired by seeing this production,
rather than reading the book. !is was shown at the new English Art Club in 1901.
It is clear in the present work that Orpen wished to recreate the impression of late eight-
eenth or early nineteenth century prints. !e girl’s dress, bonnet and black shoes recall
the maidens of Gainsborough, Romney and Hoppner and the encounter mimics, to some
extent, that of Gainsborough’s
Haymaker and the Sleeping Girl.
In the present version Jenny
is undoubtedly startled by Lord George and by the transforming e)ect of his love for her.
!e story of the miracle, revisited late in his career, clearly had a profound e)ect on Orpen
since the original drawing was placed on his easel just before his death so that it could be
transferred to oil.
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