Sir William Orpen RHA RA RWS (1878-1931) Lord George Hell Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 66 cms (30 x 26'') Signed Literature: The Art of a Nation: Three Centuries of Irish Painting, Pyms Gallery London,...

Sir William Orpen RHA RA RWS (1878-1931) Lord George Hell Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 66 cms (30 x 26'') Signed Literature: The Art of a Nation: Three Centuries of Irish Painting, Pyms Gallery London, June 2002, cat.no.30 Lord George Hell is the principal character in Max Beerbohm's The Happy Hypocrite, who falls in love with the dancer, Jenny Mere, an ingénue in the seedy world of corrupt impresarios. A Regency reprobate, he sets about to woo her, but in order to do so, must wear a mask to cover a pock-marked face. When he succeeds in his task and the mask is removed, his face has miraculously healed and become 'saintly' - such is the power of love. The story was published in 1896 followed by a one-act dramatised version at the Royalty Theatre in 1900. Orpen's first version of the subject is likely to have been inspired by seeing this production, rather than reading the book. This was shown at the new English Art Club in 1901. It is clear in the present work that Orpen wished to recreate the impression of late eighteenth or early nineteenth century print. The girls' dress, bonnet and black shoes recall the maidens of Gainsborough, Romney and Hoppner and the encounter mimics, to some extent, that of Gainsborough's Haymaker and the Sleeping Girl. In the present version Jenny is undoubtedly startled by Lord George and by the transforming effect of his love for her. The story of the miracle, revisited late in his career, clearly had a profound effect on Orpen since the original drawing was placed on his easel just before his death so that it could be transferred to oil.

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