Sir William Orpen, R.A., R.H.A. 1878-1931

Commissioned from the Artist by Sir Robert Harmsworth, Bt., Campden Hill, Kensington, London (Artist's Studio Book for 1910: "Portrait of Miss Harmsworth [Leicester] £250");
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 12th November 1986, lot 63;
Sale, Christie's Glasgow, in Dublin, 28th June 1995, lot 140, whence purchased by the present owner

London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1933, no.49 (as Miss Harmsworth);
Boston, McMullen Museum of Art (formerly Boston College Museum of Art), toured to Dublin, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, 1996, and Yale, Center for British Art, 1997-8, America’s Eye, no.26, illustrated in colour in the catalogue;
Washington D.C., The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Millenium Celebrations, Island: Arts from Ireland, 2000, unnumbered, illustrated in colour in the catalogue.

Studio Book Reference: 21/03-1910;
Cara Copland Reference: H01:08;
Charles Marriott, 'A Retrospective of American Painting', The Studio, March 1933, Vol.105, no.480, pp.142-153, illustrated in colour;
P.G. Konody and S. Dark, Sir William Orpen, Artist and Man, London, 1932, pp.200 and 268;
Bruce Arnold, Orpen: Mirror to an Age, Jonathan Cape, London, 1981, p.254;
Christopher Wood (ed.), The Dictionary of British Art, Vol.IV: The Dictionary of Victorian Painters, Vol.2, Historical Survey and Plates, 3rd Revised Edition, The Antique Collector's Club, 1994, p.342, illustrated.

Painted circa 1908, the sitter Violette Lilian Rosemary Harmsworth was born in 1902, daughter of Sir Robert Leicester Harmsworth, Bt. (1870-1937). Her father was Liberal M.P. for Caithness between 1900 and 1918 and for Caithness and Sutherland 1918-1922. He was a brother of Viscount Northcliffe (founder of the Daily Mail and one time owner of The Times) and of Viscount Rothermere, Lord Harmsworth, and Sir Hildebrand Harmsworth, Bt. In 1926, Miss Harmsworth was to marry Alexander Godfrey Crosby Collins, the son of the Rt. Hon. Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins, KBE, CMG, MP formerly Secretary of State for Scotland.

This vibrant work is a follow-up, and a contrast to, the 1907 portrait interior of Violette’s oldest sister, Annie (sold in these rooms, 16th May 1996, lot 463). In both works, commissioned by their father, Orpen is attempting to produce something that transcends the stereotypical child portrait and as such they reflect his particular artistic interest at that time. From 1907 through 1908, Orpen’s great friend and fellow artist, William Nicholson, shared his studio in South Bolton Gardens. Renowned, as he is, for his still-lifes, Nicholson’s presence must have infuenced and inspired Orpen, for in that period he produced more still-lifes than any time before or after, many of the objects being common to the work of both artists. Annie’s interior is full of objects, such as a silver cup, a large blue and white chinese jar and a glass globe, which re-occurs in two other of his works, The Reflection (private collection) and The Glass Globe (1908, coll. Mildura Arts Centre).

However, by 1910, the most likely date of the present work, Nicholson had moved out of the Studio and the still-lifes had tailed off as Orpen’s own interests moved more to the outdoors. Stimulated by his discovery in 1909 of a summer holiday retreat from the grind of London in ‘The Cliffs’ at Howth, with its view across Dublin Bay, south to the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains, plein air became the order of the day for the next few summers. One aspect that really delighted Orpen was the powerful awe-inspiring weather systems that would rapidly and magically form over Dublin Bay, and then just as quickly disappear, giving rise to infinite variations in mood, light and form. Although probably done in a studio, Orpen could not resist tapping into the delight he felt for these skies to offset the red-clad figure of the young Violette against a stormy background that seems to compliment her mood perfectly. One can imagine she would rather be doing anything than pose for this portrait, and she is not afraid to show her displeasure. But there is hope. In the lower portion of the composition the signs of the storm passing with the lighter clouds are mirrored in the brightness of the light reflecting on the dress and the blue sash. As the dark clouds pass the whole figure will again be bathed in light, bringing back a smile to Violette’s face as her ordeal is over.

The Orpen Research Project, 2004