Sir William Orpen

Born in Stillorgan, County Dublin, in 1878, William Orpen showed unusual talent early and studied first at Dublin’s Metropolitan School of Art and then at the Slade School in London. He built a successful career mainly in London, earning a reputation as a superb draughtsman and a sought-after portrait painter whose clients came from fashionable and influential circles.

Orpen’s work went far beyond society portraiture. During the First World War he served as an official war artist, producing powerful images of soldiers, battlefields, and the aftermath of conflict. Those paintings, along with his many self-portraits, helped secure his place as one of the most distinctive artists of his generation.

He was knighted and later received further honors, but his art remains the clearest guide to his life: technically brilliant, sharply observant, and often more searching than the polished world he painted. He died in London in 1931 at the age of 52.