Lot Essay
'Charles Caffin, in his review of the Knoedler, New York exhibition (March 1914) for the New York American, describes a watercolour drawing curiously entitled Sheep and Goats thus: 'The whimsical strain again peeps out in 'Sheep and Goats', a group of figures, possibly assembled to watch the sunrise, for one of the party is still in his pajamas. This is done in pencil with washes of pure colour'.
It is almost certainly the same work, with the standing man decked in what maybe described as pyjamas, dressing gown and even slippers. Moreover, a work entitled Sheep and Goats was first exhibited at the New English Art Club's Summer exhibition in 1911 which would be consistent with the date accompanying the signature on this work.
It has been suggested that the young man half lying on the ground is Orpen himself, and that this is the same person who also appears in The Draughtsman and His Model (1910, Victoria and Albert Museum, London), along with various other drawings of the years 1910-13, such as Life Class on the Beach (1910) (illustrated in The Studio but not traced) and After Bathing (1913, Mildura Arts Centre, Australia). Although it is quite probable that the model is the same in all these works, it is unlikely to be Orpen himself. On the contrary, when Orpen refers to the work in his Studio Book as Slater and Nude Model (Drawing) sold to 'Rich', he is almost certainly referring to The Draughtsman and His Model which formed part of the Alfred W. Rich Bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The 'Slater' referred to is James Sleator who acted as his Studio Assistant at this time and again towards the end of Orpen's life. He later went on to become President of the Royal Hibernian Academy.
The seated older man is most likely to be Julio Romano, who appears in the watercolour drawing On the Irish Shore (1910, Leeds City Art Gallery). An oil version of the work Fairy Ring: On the Irish Shore (Johannesburg Art Gallery) was also given the tag Young Ireland: The Fairy Ring by Orpen when illustrated in reminiscences of Ireland, Stories of Old Ireland and Myself (1924). It is within this earlier work that he is identified by another former pupil, Studio Assistant and President of the Royal Hibernian Academy, Sean Keating. However, Orpen in his Studio Book refers to him as 'Laz' which one may assume is a nickname. Joseph O'Connor, a former pupil, of Orpen at the Metropolitan School of Art, in his book Hostage to Fortune, refers to three models Orpen would use for his life classes. As one was described as an old Italian male, it may very well have been Julio Romano.
It has been suggested (Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox catalogue, 1990) that the standing male figure in this drawing appears to be his friend, John Hughes, the Irish sculptor. Although there is a resemblance, it is more likely that he is either a model or a student from the Metropolitan School of Art. There is also a strong resemblance to the man with his arm around the woman in On the Irish Shore. Bruce Arnold in Orpen: Mirror to an Age, London, 1981, however identifies this man as Jimmy Golden. He also identifies the woman wearing the high-crowned hat as Margaret Crilly. Both were students. The presence of both in On the Irish Shore is confirmed by reference to Orpen's Studio Book.
The backdrop with the sea nestling between two rising pieces of ground on each side, is very similar to that of On the Irish Shore and even more marked in the oil version The Fairy Ring. However the location for On the Irish Shore is almost certainly the dunes of Portmanock Strand, whereas Sheep and Goats seems to be more in keeping with Howth's topography near 'The Cliffs' where Orpen would spend his summer holidays in those golden years just prior to the First World War. Orpen would also go to both locations with his students and models in the early summer when teaching at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. Neither location can be ruled out because there is not sufficient detail or colour to determine whether they are perched on the grassy slopes at the top of the cliffs at Howth, or set between the grass-topped sand dunes of Portmanock Strand. In Stories of Old Ireland and Myself, Orpen describes how he considered the talented students in his class to be like a family: 'For five or six years before the war I used to go to Dublin and teach in the school for a fortnight, twice a term ... The school was really turning out good work, and there was a lot of promising youth - James Slater (sic), John Keating, Miss Crilly, Miss Fox, Miss O'Kelly and young Whelan and Touey, all with talent ... it was rather like a happy working family'.
Orpen cared deeply about art teaching in Ireland and was in the vanguard of its reform, introducing 'live nude' models to the Life Class, encouraging freer expression within the students with less regimentation in the regime at the Metropolitan School of Art, and giving evidence to the Commission reviewing art teaching in Ireland concerning a more systematic approach. Rather than a separate and distinct Irish School born out of the Celtic Revival, he was anxious to see the young Irish artists take their rightful place on the International scene. Thus he was in full support of Sir Hugh Lane's attempts to bring more modern European Art to Dublin, whilst encouraging those students that he considered had potential to continue their art education outside Ireland, and especially at the Slade, whose reputation was very high at the time.
These themes crop up time and again in his works dating to the period 1907-14. He was expressing 'Young Ireland' in terms of its young artists, especially the female ones. It seems that he was trying to evoke the spirit of Young Ireland within these portraits, just as Sir John Lavery was to do with the picture of his new wife, Hazel, portrayed as 'Cathleen Ni Houlihan', which found its way onto the banknote of the new Republic. The titles of the works often give clues to the Irish nature of the subject. These works include Grace Gifford (who was later to become involved with the Republican Movement, marrying Joseph Plunkett in Kilmainham Gaol the night before his execution in 1916) in Young Ireland (Private Collection), and using a biblical reference in Ruth and Boaz (Mildura Arts Centre, Australia). Both date to about 1907. In 1908 and 1909 an ex student of the Metropolitan School of Art, contemporary with Orpen's student days, Beatrice Elvery (later Lady Glenavy) was the model for two works The Colleen (1908, not traced) and Bridjit, A Picture of Miss Elvery (1909). The first title is self-explanatory, but the second perhaps needs more explanation. It is known that Orpen would refer to his friend as 'Bridjit', addressing her as such in letters, which he would sign 'Digit'. This affectionate and complimentary form of address could well have been alluding to the Irish goddess Brigit (later to be adopted by the Early Christian Church as St. Bridget) described by Lady Gregory in Gods and Fighting Men: 'Brigit was a woman of poetry, the poets worshipped her, for her sway was very great and very noble. And she was a woman of healing along with that, and a woman of smith's work, and it was she first made the whistle for calling one to another through the night, and the one side of her face was ugly, but the other side was very comely. And the meaning of her name was Breo-saighit, a fiery arrow'. He followed this up with a portrait of Margaret Crilly as The Aran Islander.
By about 1910 these gave way to a group of mainly plein air drawings with a watercolour wash executed between 1910 and 1914. Sheep and Goats belongs to this phase. The easy going nature of this and similar works of the same ilk, sunny days, outdoor setting, holiday atmosphere, relaxed teaching, humourous treatment, belies a more deeper meaning to these works. Also included are On the Irish Shore, The Fairy Ring, Life Class on the Beach, The Draughtsman and His Model, The Bather, After Bathing, and On the Cliff. The last four were reproduced as part of a set of ten photogravure prints for the Chenil Galleries in 1913. Some of these seemed to be concerned with students and models, and may be a further expression of Orpen's attitude to art teaching in Ireland. Life Class on the Beach was a relatively straightforward treatment of the subject, but On the Irish Shore and Sheep and Goats, full as they are of imagery, may form part of a developing theme that was to find full expression in Sowing New Seed for the Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland (1913). Orpen saw what he was doing along with other like-minded people almost as a struggle against the reactionarey stance taken by the Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, the body responsible for art teaching in Ireland; its title, perhaps giving some clue to its priorities. Judging from drawings in letters to his wife, he certainly seemed to have a romantic view of his part in the struggle, picturing himself, as he did, leading the Old Lady of Erin to better and brighter things. It would also have appealed to his sense of humour to use mythological imagery to parody the Celtic Revival which I am sure he would have considered to be detrimental to the development of Irish Art. Could these factions be the sheep and goats of Orpen's pictures, with the old man representing Orpen as the good shepherd, and the goat as either the Board of Agriculture or the Celtic Revivalists?
The specific title given to the work by Orpen adds a new, extra and intriguing dimension over the purely descriptive title by which it has been known more recently. It lifts it above pure whimsey, suggesting that it has a deeper meaning. However one may only speculate as to what it might be and that Orpen was not playing with his public by giving the work a spurious title. He has been known to change the titles of pictures to suit circumstances, and one suspects that such devilment would appeal to his sense of humour. Judging from the title there are obviously two groups or types of people represented. If Orpen refers to the biblical reference from Matthew 25:31-33: 'When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left' - then the one group, the sheep, is 'better' or 'more privileged' than the other, the goats, but which is which and how can we tell the difference?
The reference may be a modern allegory harping back to the ancient legends and folklore of Ireland. It seems that there could well be a connection with On the Irish Shore, as they seem to share the same whimsical quality, similar aspects of composition, share the same models and both were shown at New English Art Club exhibitions. However the meaning of this work is also obscure, although the fairy ring, which appears in the oil version, would suggest some reference to Irish fairy tradition, interest in which had fairly recently enjoyed a revival. Such advocates included Lady Wilde (the mother of Oscar), who wrote Ancient Legends of Ireland (1888), and William Butler Yeats, the poet well known for his involvement in the Irish Cultural revival and who also had an interest in Irish folklore, writing books entitled Irish Fairy and Folk Tales (1888) and The Celtic Twilight (1893) on the subject. Following as it did, a year later, the subject picture may be some sort of sequel, with its roots in the same traditions. It is difficult to know whether Orpen was using specific or general sources of Irish folklore, if any, for either or both of these works, although the old man in the two works is somewhat reminiscent of John Butler Yeats' The Last Gleeman, an illustration for his son's book The Celtic Twilight (1893). When the drawing is closely examined there are rough undeveloped sketches of both a set of pipes and a bodhran (a type of hand drum) by the old man which may suggest that he is indeed a minstrel. However the following extract from Lady Wilde's book Ancient Legends of Ireland, gives a backdrop against which Orpen may have set this work and parody, perhaps amusingly recognising within himself some of the characteristics described: 'The very tendency to superstition, so marked in Irish nature, arises from a instinctive dislike of the narrow limitations of common sense. It is characterised by a passionate yearning towards the vague, the mystic, the invisible, and the boundless infinite of the realms of imagination. Therefore the Daoine Sidh, the people of the fairy mansions, have an irrestible attraction for the Irish heart. Like them, the Irish love youth, beauty, splendour, lavish generosity, music and song, the feast and the dance. The mirth and reckless gaiety of the national temperament finds its true exponent in the mad pranks of the Phouka and the Leprechaun, the merry spirits that haunt the dells and glens, and look out at the wayfarer from under the dock-leaf with their glittering eyes. The inspiration that rises to poetry under the influence of excitement is expressed by the belief in the Leanhaun Shee who gives power to song; while the deep pathos of Irish nature finds its fullest representation in the tender, plaintive, spiritual music of the wail and lamentation of the Banshee''.
Even if Orpen was looking to the mythical to make a point in the present, who or what do the figures represent? It must be assumed that some represent sheep and the others goats, but how do we tell which is which? The old man, in addition to the representations already suggested, is possibly some kind of benign fairy, a positive force. Compositionally he is counterpoised diagonally from bottom left to top right with the goat, who would be more likely to represent the malevolent or evil aspects within the fairy of spirit world - the negative force. Once the imaginary line is drawn, the two couples fall either side of it with the standing couple being more closely associated with the goat, to the left, and the seated couple, the old man, to the right; the former being disciples of the goat, and the latter are the sheep. By creating this axis between the two forces, Orpen has incorporated a strong and powerful primeval imagery within his composition. In this context the clothing of the standing couple, pyjamas and what appear to be petticoats, thinly covered could represent the old art traditions of the Irish Art Establishment or the Celtic Revival, unprepared though apparently awake and alert, presenting ideas for reform that have no substance. This is further indicated in the way that their hats are only partly materialised. On the other hand, the seated couple seemed to be relaxed but fully clothed and thus are ready and prepared'.
We are very grateful to The Orpen Research Project for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.
It is almost certainly the same work, with the standing man decked in what maybe described as pyjamas, dressing gown and even slippers. Moreover, a work entitled Sheep and Goats was first exhibited at the New English Art Club's Summer exhibition in 1911 which would be consistent with the date accompanying the signature on this work.
It has been suggested that the young man half lying on the ground is Orpen himself, and that this is the same person who also appears in The Draughtsman and His Model (1910, Victoria and Albert Museum, London), along with various other drawings of the years 1910-13, such as Life Class on the Beach (1910) (illustrated in The Studio but not traced) and After Bathing (1913, Mildura Arts Centre, Australia). Although it is quite probable that the model is the same in all these works, it is unlikely to be Orpen himself. On the contrary, when Orpen refers to the work in his Studio Book as Slater and Nude Model (Drawing) sold to 'Rich', he is almost certainly referring to The Draughtsman and His Model which formed part of the Alfred W. Rich Bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The 'Slater' referred to is James Sleator who acted as his Studio Assistant at this time and again towards the end of Orpen's life. He later went on to become President of the Royal Hibernian Academy.
The seated older man is most likely to be Julio Romano, who appears in the watercolour drawing On the Irish Shore (1910, Leeds City Art Gallery). An oil version of the work Fairy Ring: On the Irish Shore (Johannesburg Art Gallery) was also given the tag Young Ireland: The Fairy Ring by Orpen when illustrated in reminiscences of Ireland, Stories of Old Ireland and Myself (1924). It is within this earlier work that he is identified by another former pupil, Studio Assistant and President of the Royal Hibernian Academy, Sean Keating. However, Orpen in his Studio Book refers to him as 'Laz' which one may assume is a nickname. Joseph O'Connor, a former pupil, of Orpen at the Metropolitan School of Art, in his book Hostage to Fortune, refers to three models Orpen would use for his life classes. As one was described as an old Italian male, it may very well have been Julio Romano.
It has been suggested (Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox catalogue, 1990) that the standing male figure in this drawing appears to be his friend, John Hughes, the Irish sculptor. Although there is a resemblance, it is more likely that he is either a model or a student from the Metropolitan School of Art. There is also a strong resemblance to the man with his arm around the woman in On the Irish Shore. Bruce Arnold in Orpen: Mirror to an Age, London, 1981, however identifies this man as Jimmy Golden. He also identifies the woman wearing the high-crowned hat as Margaret Crilly. Both were students. The presence of both in On the Irish Shore is confirmed by reference to Orpen's Studio Book.
The backdrop with the sea nestling between two rising pieces of ground on each side, is very similar to that of On the Irish Shore and even more marked in the oil version The Fairy Ring. However the location for On the Irish Shore is almost certainly the dunes of Portmanock Strand, whereas Sheep and Goats seems to be more in keeping with Howth's topography near 'The Cliffs' where Orpen would spend his summer holidays in those golden years just prior to the First World War. Orpen would also go to both locations with his students and models in the early summer when teaching at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. Neither location can be ruled out because there is not sufficient detail or colour to determine whether they are perched on the grassy slopes at the top of the cliffs at Howth, or set between the grass-topped sand dunes of Portmanock Strand. In Stories of Old Ireland and Myself, Orpen describes how he considered the talented students in his class to be like a family: 'For five or six years before the war I used to go to Dublin and teach in the school for a fortnight, twice a term ... The school was really turning out good work, and there was a lot of promising youth - James Slater (sic), John Keating, Miss Crilly, Miss Fox, Miss O'Kelly and young Whelan and Touey, all with talent ... it was rather like a happy working family'.
Orpen cared deeply about art teaching in Ireland and was in the vanguard of its reform, introducing 'live nude' models to the Life Class, encouraging freer expression within the students with less regimentation in the regime at the Metropolitan School of Art, and giving evidence to the Commission reviewing art teaching in Ireland concerning a more systematic approach. Rather than a separate and distinct Irish School born out of the Celtic Revival, he was anxious to see the young Irish artists take their rightful place on the International scene. Thus he was in full support of Sir Hugh Lane's attempts to bring more modern European Art to Dublin, whilst encouraging those students that he considered had potential to continue their art education outside Ireland, and especially at the Slade, whose reputation was very high at the time.
These themes crop up time and again in his works dating to the period 1907-14. He was expressing 'Young Ireland' in terms of its young artists, especially the female ones. It seems that he was trying to evoke the spirit of Young Ireland within these portraits, just as Sir John Lavery was to do with the picture of his new wife, Hazel, portrayed as 'Cathleen Ni Houlihan', which found its way onto the banknote of the new Republic. The titles of the works often give clues to the Irish nature of the subject. These works include Grace Gifford (who was later to become involved with the Republican Movement, marrying Joseph Plunkett in Kilmainham Gaol the night before his execution in 1916) in Young Ireland (Private Collection), and using a biblical reference in Ruth and Boaz (Mildura Arts Centre, Australia). Both date to about 1907. In 1908 and 1909 an ex student of the Metropolitan School of Art, contemporary with Orpen's student days, Beatrice Elvery (later Lady Glenavy) was the model for two works The Colleen (1908, not traced) and Bridjit, A Picture of Miss Elvery (1909). The first title is self-explanatory, but the second perhaps needs more explanation. It is known that Orpen would refer to his friend as 'Bridjit', addressing her as such in letters, which he would sign 'Digit'. This affectionate and complimentary form of address could well have been alluding to the Irish goddess Brigit (later to be adopted by the Early Christian Church as St. Bridget) described by Lady Gregory in Gods and Fighting Men: 'Brigit was a woman of poetry, the poets worshipped her, for her sway was very great and very noble. And she was a woman of healing along with that, and a woman of smith's work, and it was she first made the whistle for calling one to another through the night, and the one side of her face was ugly, but the other side was very comely. And the meaning of her name was Breo-saighit, a fiery arrow'. He followed this up with a portrait of Margaret Crilly as The Aran Islander.
By about 1910 these gave way to a group of mainly plein air drawings with a watercolour wash executed between 1910 and 1914. Sheep and Goats belongs to this phase. The easy going nature of this and similar works of the same ilk, sunny days, outdoor setting, holiday atmosphere, relaxed teaching, humourous treatment, belies a more deeper meaning to these works. Also included are On the Irish Shore, The Fairy Ring, Life Class on the Beach, The Draughtsman and His Model, The Bather, After Bathing, and On the Cliff. The last four were reproduced as part of a set of ten photogravure prints for the Chenil Galleries in 1913. Some of these seemed to be concerned with students and models, and may be a further expression of Orpen's attitude to art teaching in Ireland. Life Class on the Beach was a relatively straightforward treatment of the subject, but On the Irish Shore and Sheep and Goats, full as they are of imagery, may form part of a developing theme that was to find full expression in Sowing New Seed for the Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland (1913). Orpen saw what he was doing along with other like-minded people almost as a struggle against the reactionarey stance taken by the Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, the body responsible for art teaching in Ireland; its title, perhaps giving some clue to its priorities. Judging from drawings in letters to his wife, he certainly seemed to have a romantic view of his part in the struggle, picturing himself, as he did, leading the Old Lady of Erin to better and brighter things. It would also have appealed to his sense of humour to use mythological imagery to parody the Celtic Revival which I am sure he would have considered to be detrimental to the development of Irish Art. Could these factions be the sheep and goats of Orpen's pictures, with the old man representing Orpen as the good shepherd, and the goat as either the Board of Agriculture or the Celtic Revivalists?
The specific title given to the work by Orpen adds a new, extra and intriguing dimension over the purely descriptive title by which it has been known more recently. It lifts it above pure whimsey, suggesting that it has a deeper meaning. However one may only speculate as to what it might be and that Orpen was not playing with his public by giving the work a spurious title. He has been known to change the titles of pictures to suit circumstances, and one suspects that such devilment would appeal to his sense of humour. Judging from the title there are obviously two groups or types of people represented. If Orpen refers to the biblical reference from Matthew 25:31-33: 'When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left' - then the one group, the sheep, is 'better' or 'more privileged' than the other, the goats, but which is which and how can we tell the difference?
The reference may be a modern allegory harping back to the ancient legends and folklore of Ireland. It seems that there could well be a connection with On the Irish Shore, as they seem to share the same whimsical quality, similar aspects of composition, share the same models and both were shown at New English Art Club exhibitions. However the meaning of this work is also obscure, although the fairy ring, which appears in the oil version, would suggest some reference to Irish fairy tradition, interest in which had fairly recently enjoyed a revival. Such advocates included Lady Wilde (the mother of Oscar), who wrote Ancient Legends of Ireland (1888), and William Butler Yeats, the poet well known for his involvement in the Irish Cultural revival and who also had an interest in Irish folklore, writing books entitled Irish Fairy and Folk Tales (1888) and The Celtic Twilight (1893) on the subject. Following as it did, a year later, the subject picture may be some sort of sequel, with its roots in the same traditions. It is difficult to know whether Orpen was using specific or general sources of Irish folklore, if any, for either or both of these works, although the old man in the two works is somewhat reminiscent of John Butler Yeats' The Last Gleeman, an illustration for his son's book The Celtic Twilight (1893). When the drawing is closely examined there are rough undeveloped sketches of both a set of pipes and a bodhran (a type of hand drum) by the old man which may suggest that he is indeed a minstrel. However the following extract from Lady Wilde's book Ancient Legends of Ireland, gives a backdrop against which Orpen may have set this work and parody, perhaps amusingly recognising within himself some of the characteristics described: 'The very tendency to superstition, so marked in Irish nature, arises from a instinctive dislike of the narrow limitations of common sense. It is characterised by a passionate yearning towards the vague, the mystic, the invisible, and the boundless infinite of the realms of imagination. Therefore the Daoine Sidh, the people of the fairy mansions, have an irrestible attraction for the Irish heart. Like them, the Irish love youth, beauty, splendour, lavish generosity, music and song, the feast and the dance. The mirth and reckless gaiety of the national temperament finds its true exponent in the mad pranks of the Phouka and the Leprechaun, the merry spirits that haunt the dells and glens, and look out at the wayfarer from under the dock-leaf with their glittering eyes. The inspiration that rises to poetry under the influence of excitement is expressed by the belief in the Leanhaun Shee who gives power to song; while the deep pathos of Irish nature finds its fullest representation in the tender, plaintive, spiritual music of the wail and lamentation of the Banshee''.
Even if Orpen was looking to the mythical to make a point in the present, who or what do the figures represent? It must be assumed that some represent sheep and the others goats, but how do we tell which is which? The old man, in addition to the representations already suggested, is possibly some kind of benign fairy, a positive force. Compositionally he is counterpoised diagonally from bottom left to top right with the goat, who would be more likely to represent the malevolent or evil aspects within the fairy of spirit world - the negative force. Once the imaginary line is drawn, the two couples fall either side of it with the standing couple being more closely associated with the goat, to the left, and the seated couple, the old man, to the right; the former being disciples of the goat, and the latter are the sheep. By creating this axis between the two forces, Orpen has incorporated a strong and powerful primeval imagery within his composition. In this context the clothing of the standing couple, pyjamas and what appear to be petticoats, thinly covered could represent the old art traditions of the Irish Art Establishment or the Celtic Revival, unprepared though apparently awake and alert, presenting ideas for reform that have no substance. This is further indicated in the way that their hats are only partly materialised. On the other hand, the seated couple seemed to be relaxed but fully clothed and thus are ready and prepared'.
We are very grateful to The Orpen Research Project for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.