50
39
Sir WilliamOrpen RHA RA (1878-1931)
Little Billy Orpen
Pen and ink, 20.5 x 15cm (8 x 6”)
Signed and inscribed ‘Little Billy Orpen aged 12 at work in
the School of Art Dublin 1890 - To Mrs. S. with love Orps’
!&,$## - ',$##
40
Darius J. MacEgan, (!e MacEgan) (1856-1939)
Portrait of Kevin O’Higgins
Pencil, 40 x 31.5cm (15$ x 11.4”)
Signed
Kevin O’Higgins, the well known politician, was born in Stra-
bally, Co. Laois in 1892. He was educated at Clongowes Wood
College and later at St. Patricks College, Maynooth and UCD.
While still a student he joined Sinn Féin. He was &rst elected as
MP for Laois while he was imprisoned in 1918. He was on the
run in 1920 and was elected TD for South Dublin in 1922. He
was a strong advocate of acceptance of the 1921 Treaty.
After the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 he be-
came Minister for Justice and external a)airs. O’Higgins estab-
lished An Garda Síochána as an unarmed police force to replace
the RIC. While on his way to mass on 10th July 1927 at Boot-
erstown, Co. Dublin he was shot dead by an unknown gunman.
!is work is thought to be one of a series of pencil drawings
of the &rst executive Government that !e Mac Egan did circa
1924 - another of the series of T.M. Healy as Governor-General
of the Irish Free State is in Áras an Uachtaráin.
!(## - )##
