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William Orpen , Irish, 1878-1931

Title

Portrait of Grace Gifford - study for 'Young Ireland'

Datec.1915

MediumConté on paper

Dimensions

21.6 × 21 cm

Signedlower left: William Orpen

Credit LinePurchased, 2024

Object numberNGI.2024.81

DescriptionGrace Evelyn Gifford was an Irish cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and political activist. Born in Dublin in 1888, she attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art when she was sixteen years old. She studied under William Orpen from 1904 - 1907. Orpen, who had studied at the same school himself from 1891 - 1897, taught there, part-time, between 1902 and 1914. Gifford was a successful student, whom he deemed to be one of his most talented and promising pupils. Like Orpen before her, she won several prizzes at the school in drawing from life.

Orpen and Gifford developed a close friendship and Gifford was the subject of several works by Orpen, most notably his 1907 portrait Young Ireland, Grace Gifford. In his portrait Gifford is the personification of the growing confidence in Irish cultural identity that emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century. The work presented here is thought to be a study for his renowned painting.

This drawing reveals the youthful joy of Gifford, here only 29 years old. Sketching his close circle and fellow artists was a common practice of Orpen's and where his admiration for these individuals was often most evident.
ProvenanceAnonymous sale; Phillips, London, 17 September 1991, lot 63, where acquired by previous owner; Purchased, 2024Exhibition HistoryDrawings by the Late Sir William Orpen, KCB, RA, Leicester Galleries, London, December 1931