Featured Unframed watercolour of a seated nun signed Orpen 1927 - 46cm x 35cm

I bought this the other day at a small auction house in Dorset, England, catalogued as the title to this post. My wife really liked it, as do I, but could it actually be by William Orpen, the auction house were obviously not convinced - what do you think?

 

Sorry, a few too many images, I don't know what went wrong!

 

It might be. Well done. The style is similar. I found a few signed paintings and the signature looks similar. This was the clearest signature that I found.

 

Ask one of the moderators to remove a few images. This happens to me once in a while and I have no idea why.

 

To my eye, it's certainly possible. It's a very skilled work. And Orpen was fond of posing his portrait sitters in not dissimilar poses where the hands were as expressive as the face. You can ask here:

http://www.sirwilliamorpen.com

Debora

 

You should be able to remove extra photos by clicking on Edit.

Debora

 

No idea, but I like her.

 

I'd bet it's for real. What a beautiful painting ... lucky you!

 

What wonderful comments, we love her too but the journey starts here to get her authenticated, could be a long and winding road!

 

Thanks Debora, I have contacted the Orpen site you suggested. I have been contemplating who the sitter may have been and have come up with Violet Bonham Carter as a possibility, certain facial similarity and Orpen knew her,
painted and photographed her.

 

Best wishes to you in identifying this picture. It is lovely!

 

Ditto Figtree!

 

Thanks everyone for your best wishes and enthusiasm. I got a reply from the Orpen site pretty quickly. The person replying wasn't an expert but had access to the Orpen database of known works. Not surprisingly my picture wasn't mentionied, considering it doesn't look as if anyone has even put it in a frame maybe ever. Undeterred, my wife is going to contact the auction house to try and get an idea of what the circumstances were that led to it coming to auction.

 

Wouldn't expect it to be in their database but... Isn't there someone there who can opine on the possibility of it being a genuine signature? A genuine work? Or someone there who can direct you to an Orpen expert?

Debora

 

I just had another look at the website and it appears that the research archives were left to the person that I am in contact with when someone died last year, so the expert is no longer with us I assume

 

Saw that too. He was developing the catalogue raisonné.

Debora

 

He has been back in touch with me to say that he is going to visit Orpen's descendants, who live in the next county to me, so at least my picture is on his mind now. He asked for the price that I had paid for it (Hammer price £95) so that he could add the information to the archive

 

She is really lovely! Hopefully she will also prove to be of great value

 

This will give you some idea of the auction estimates for his work.

https://www.invaluable.com/artist/orpen-sir-william-ts1yjpqsob/sold-at-auction-prices/

Debora