56
38 Sir WilliamOrpen RA, RHA (1878-1931)
The Edge of the Cliff, Howth
Oil on panel, 50 x 61cm (19.75 x 24”)
Signed
Provenance: Aitken Dott & Sons, Edinburgh where possibly purchased 1918 for £250;
Sale, Christies, 1st December 1925, lot 100 (mistitled as
On the Edge of the Cliff, Wales
) where
purchased by Mr Mailley;
Sale, Phillips, London, 7th June 1994, lot 26;
Jefferson Smurfit Group, Dublin;
Sale, Sothebys, 16th May 2003, lot 58;
Private Collection, Ireland.
Exhibited: Probably Goupil Gallery, London, Salon Exhibition, 1913, No. 73 as
On the Edge of the Cliff
.
London, Beaux Arts Gallery, William Orpen, 1924, No.3
Literature: Colour Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 4, November 1915, p.129, illustrated
Charles Marriott, ‘
Masterpieces of Modern Art
’, Colour Magazine, London, 1921, p.15, pl.9,
illustrated, Colour Magazine, unidentified publication [source Witt Library], dated between 1921
and 1931, pl.8, illustrated in colour.
Sir William Orpen, born November 27th, 1878 was the youngest son of solicitor Arthur Orpen and his wife Anne
of Blackrock in County Dublin.William entered the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art just before his thirteenth
birthday, where he was a regular prizewinner. A precocious talent, he went on to study under Henry Tonks at the
Slade, becoming close friends with Augustus John and again winning many prizes and awards.
The Edge of the Cliff, Howth is thought to have been painted circa 1913, towards the end of the period where
he was teaching part-time at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. By this time he had achieved a significant
reputation as a portrait painter in both London and Dublin and was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and
Royal Hibernian Academy. From about 1907 his family took a holiday house on Howth Head, just outside Dublin
where the present work is set. Kit, the artist’s then seven-year old daughter is seated on the edge of the cliffs over-
looking the Baily Lighthouse, on Howth Head. Her pose is direct and she looks straight at her artist father from
underneath her wide brimmed straw hat, and is almost entirely cast in her own shadow.The brilliant yet hazy light
suggests a high summer day with scorched grasses and the sitter’s sunkissed skin. The composition too is daring
but also typical of Orpen’s dexterity, with the child and her leather satchel being placed on the extreme right hand
side of the composition and in such a natural and relaxed pose.
We are grateful to The Orpen Research Project whose research formed the basis of this catalogue entry.
€120,00 - 180,000
