129
Important Irish Art
,
wednesday 4th December 2013 at 6pm
85
Sir WilliamOrpen RHA RA RWS (1878-1931)
“Petticoat Lane”
Pen and ink, 21 x 14cm (8¼ x 5½”)
Inscribed with title, signed on letter verso
The letter is one of several sent around 1905 when Orpen felt that Lane should be supporting him and not other artists such as Antonio
Mancini. As Robert O’Byrne said in his book on Lane “Orpen harassed him from the outset for money and assistance - the final comment
in the letter being ‘...as I am hard up’“. The picture that is referred to in the letter is a painting of Hugh Lane’s sister Ruth that Lane commis-
sioned in 1904 of Orpen in competition with John Butler Yeats. Orpen’s portrait of Ruth was not judged a success as he decided to ‘imitate an
old master’ compared to Yeats portrait which was painted in a more modernist manner.
€1,000 - 1,500
