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Summer Afternoon (Artist in his Studio with a Model)
Sir William Orpen (Irish (active in England), 1878–1931)
about 1913
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
96.5 x 86.4 cm (38 x 34 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of John T. Spaulding
Accession Number48.582
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Orpen studied in Dublin and then at London's Slade School, becoming one of the most successful, and most honored, portrait painters of his generation. Here, in one of his numerous forays into self-portraiture, Orpen (who was known for his wit and humor) depicts himself at work in his Chelsea studio, gesturing mock-heroically as his model yawns.
InscriptionsLower right: O R P E N
Provenance1920, Mrs. John F. Carroll; February 5, 1920, Carroll sale, Anderson Galleries, New York, no. 112, sold to John Taylor Spaulding (d. 1948), Boston, MA ; 1948, bequest of Spaulding. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)