Major Sir William Orpen KBE, RA

Major Sir William Orpen was an Irish artist who worked mainly in London. He was a fine draftsman and a popular, commercially successful painter of portraits of the well to do in Edwardian Society. He was the most prolific of the Official Artists sent to the Western Front. Most of the works he produced were donated by him to the Imperial War Museum. His determination to serve in the war is said to have cost him both his health and his social standing. After his early death, in 1931, a number of critics, including fellow artists, were dismissive of his work and for many years his work was rarely exhibited, a situation that only began to change in the 1980s.

RCC7689 An Onlooker in France (Orpen)