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Lot description
WILLIAM ORPEN (IRISH 1878-1931)A SKETCH OF A ORPEN ASLEEP: ALONG WITH AN ILLUSTRATED POEMPen and inkThe letter signed and inscribed 'On a Sunday morning early/Two naughty little girls/ Came into Woppy's bedroom/ and pulled his golden curls/Poor Wopps he who so sleepy/He never heard those girls/The first he knew of anything/was when they pulled his curls/But then he felt his swoolen [sic] head/His blissful dreams had gone/For Poppy sat apon chest-/and Lester sang the song' (on a sheet of headed writing paper from Clonsilla Lodge, County Dublin)6 x 11cm (2¼ x 4¼ in.) irregular; the letter 19.8 x 12.5cm (7¾ x 4¾ in.)Provenance:Sale Sotheby's, London, The Irish Sale,16 May 2002, lot 115.The present lot was part of a group of letters, offered for sale in 2002, which were written by Orpen to Mrs Evelyn Florence St George and her daughter Gardenia between 1907 and 1912. Mrs St George was Orpen's mistress and muse, who transformed his personal and artistic life, Orpen was the father of her second daughter, Vivien born in 1912. Self-portraits were a frequent feature in Orpen's letters as he found illustrations a more succinct way to communicate his thoughts and feelings.