Ilustrated letter to Hugh Lane: Your damned whisky is finished

Details

Sir William Orpen, R.H.A., R.A. (1878-1931)
Ilustrated letter to Hugh Lane: Your damned whisky is finished
inscribed 'My dear Lane - why the/devil don't you write to/me about your things - the/old woman has gone - would/not stay on at those terms/wanted a pound a week. However/she came in the morning and/goto your letter give me Morant's address and I will/write and tell him when to/call - they did come last/Saturday but I sent them/away as I knew nothing about/it - hope things went well/on Saturday night - who do/you think is coming here this/afternoon [Julia Hesselman ?]/back from the earthquake/hope to see you soon in/Dublin - love to Ally/and thanks for his letter/how much are you going/to pay me for this job of/Sec. no ornaments have/arrived - the drawing "Slep"/will be in the next Art/Journal - and Miss Lumb/in the Graphic next or next after./Your damned Whisky is finished/send another bottle - Yours Orpen/If Titian could only draw eyes as well as Rothenstein/or myself your picture might be worth something.'
pen and black ink on 5 Bolton Gardens South headed notepaper
7 1/8 x 8 7/8 in. (18 x 22.6 cm.)

Provenance

The Artist's Family.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

This letter can be dated to about the end of 1906, as the 'Sleep' drawing mentioned appeared in the Art Journal for January 1907, (p. 30). At that time Orpen and Hugh Lane were sharing the property at 5 Bolton Gardens South, but Lane spent periods in Dublin trying to make his vision of a Modern Art Gallery for Dublin a reality. Orpen is having a humourous moan at having to deal with Lane's paperwork and no doubt he thinks keeping him in whisky is the least Lane can do as a form of compensation for this arduous chore.

Incidentally the Julia Hesselman 'back from the earthquake' remark may refer to the infamous Great San Francisco Earthquake which struck on 18 April 1906.

O.R.P.

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