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

The Artist's Estate from whom acquired by Mr and Mrs H.S.H. Guinness, and thence by descent to their daughter Mrs Hugh Carleton Greene (later Mrs Helga Connolly), whence gifted to her daughter-in-law, Mrs Graham Greene, the present owner

Lady Evelyn Leonora Almina Herbert (1901-1980) was the only daughter of George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the 5th Lord Carnavon (1866-1923), and Almina Victoria Marie Alexandra Wombwell (1880-1969). She was very close to her father, and went to Egypt on several occasions to see the excavation at Thebes, the culmination of which was the discovery of  Tutankhamun's tomb. She had the unique distinction of  being the first woman to enter the antechamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb in November 1922, in the company of her father, Howard Carter and his assistant, Arthur R. Callender. However, only months after, she was with her father during his last illness, which had arisen from a mosquito bite, and resulted in his untimely death in Cairo, on 4^th April 1923. In July 1923, she became engaged to, and subsequently married, Sir Brograve Campbell Beauchamp (1897-1976), who became MP for Walthamstow East between 1931-1945. In 1972 she visited the Tutankhamun exhibition in London to see again some of the objects from the tomb. Despite the supposed “Curse of Tutankhamun”, fuelled in part by her father’s tragic death, so soon after the tomb’s discovery, she lived to the ripe old age of 79, dying without incident at the end of January 1980.

According to the artist’s Studio Book, Orpen completed a half length portrait of Lady Evelyn in 1915, for which he received a fee of £500. Intriguingly, this portrait (fig.1, sold Christie’s, London, 12^th June 1987, lot 110, for £55,000) is signed and inscribed Orpen, Dear little Peaceful by Woppy. It is intriguing because 'Woppy' was the nickname for Orpen used by his mistress, Mrs (Florence) Evelyn St George, and her family. It therefore suggests that not only was Mrs St George instrumental in obtaining the commission, but also the sitter was previously known to Orpen, especially with such an affectionate inscription. Mrs St George, the daughter of a New York banker, was well connected in London and English Society, and may well have counted the Carnavons within her sphere. She is known to have used her influence on a number of occasions to secure commissions for the artist. Orpen also had a particularly good relationship with Mrs St Georges’s daughter, Gardenia, otherwise known as Poppy or Popcorn (born  9^th October 1897), and although a few years Lady Evelyn’s senior, if the two teenagers were friends, this might have been the connection.

Lady Evelyn was just thirteen or fourteen years old when the commissioned portait was painted. The charm of  the fresh faced features of an adolescent young teenager evident in the present work would suggest that it too dates to the same time, 1915. It may even have been a study for the half length work, but the pose was not pursued, despite the existence of a pencil and wash study in the same pose. That Orpen worked on a canvas much larger than the final image, as can be seen by the large overlap at the back of the stretcher (see fig.2), and this remained uncut, unstretched and unexhibited in his studio until his death, tends to lend weight to the suggestion that this was a first draft that Orpen chose to keep for himself. The inquisitiveness displayed in her eyes portends a quest for knowledge and an interest in Egyptology, shared with her father, that would ultimately lead them to the Tomb of Tutankhamun.

The drawing (fig. 3), however, was exhibited several times both before and after Orpen’s death in 1931, from 1920 onwards. It was acquired for £50, from the Artist’s Estate, by the National Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, in 1933, where it is today (illustrated, Studio, London, July 1926, p.48, illustrated p.42).

The Orpen Research Project.