![[Self-portrait by William Orpen on autographed signed letter by him on headed paper 'British Delegation, Paris. 19th March 1919' sent to "My dear Young"].](/IIIF/000750000/000745110/vtls000745110_001.jp2/full/800,/0/default.jpg)
[Self-portrait by William Orpen on autographed signed letter by him on headed paper 'British Delegation, Paris. 19th March 1919' sent to "My dear Young"].
[William Orpen].
[graphic] /
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| Summary: | Letterhead with navy font 'British Delegation, Paris. 19th March 1919'; coat of arms printed at left of sheet. William Orpen was one of the first chosen as a war artist by the British Ministry of Information in 1917 and subsequently the Imperial War Museum commissioned Orpen to stay on in France after the end of the First World War to complete three works of art. As official painter at the Paris Peace Conference throughout 1919 he painted individual portraits of delegates attending the Conference and these formed the basis of his two large group portraits - 'A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay' [depicting preliminary discussions of the "Council of Ten"] and 'The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28 June 1919'. A third painting entitled 'To the Unknown British Soldier in France' was first exhibited at the Royal Academy [London, Summer Exhibition], 1923 but the Imperial War Museum declined to take the work on the grounds that it did not meet the terms of the commission; Orpen then painted out parts of the painting [where two emaciated soldiers were depicted bearing guns and clad in tattered blankets and where above them, were two cherubs held a floral garland that reached down to the floor]; the revised painting was donated by Orpen to the Imperial War Museum in 1928 as a tribute to the late Field Marshal Haig. |
| Format: | Prints & Drawings |
| Language: | English |
| Published / Created: |
19th March 1919.
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| Notes: | Physical description: 1 drawing [sheet pasted onto card]: ink ; sheet 53.2 x 42.5 cm, on board 54.4 x 43.3 cm.. Varying form of title: [British Delegation, Paris. 19th March 1919. Self-portrait by William Orpen]. more |
