The Jockey; an illustrated Letter to his Wife, Grace

'This letter dates to October 1909, when Orpen was on one of his teaching visits to the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. The illustration makes reference to The Jockey Self-Portrait (National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden: NM 1730). It was exhibited at the Goupil Gallery Salon, 4th Winter Exhibition, 1909, no.149, as Baldoyle, The Steeplechaser, ('the show' referred to in the letter), and the Royal Hibernian Academy, 81st Exhibition, 1910, no.59 as A Baldoyle Steeplechaser, before being sold by the artist to Stockholm in 1911. Baldoyle is situated just north of Dublin, and at that time had a racecourse'.