People and Portraits:

Winston Churchill : 1874-1965. Home Secretary (1910-1911); First Lord of the Admiralty (1911-1914); Member of the War Council (1914-1915); British Army Commander (1915-?); Minister of Munitions (under David Lloyd George) (1918); Minister of War and Air (1919-1920); Colonial Secretary (1921-1922); Elected as representative of the Conservative Party (Epping) (1924); First Lord of the Admiralty (1939-1940) Prime Minister of England (1940-1945). Orpen's portrait of Churchill (1916) is reproduced in Bruce Arnold's book, "Orpen: Mirror to an Age" (London: Jonathan Cape, 1981), along with a description of Churchill's reactions to it. (At the time of the portrait, Churchill had been dropped from the War Cabinet after withdrawing forces from the Dardanelles campaign).

Sir John Cowans:1862-1921. Quartermaster-General of the British Army in World War One. Helped William Orpen secure a commission in the Army Service Corps, and oversaw his promotion to Major. Although Orpen did a portrait of Cowans, it is not available online.

Lord Derby (Edward George Villiers Stanley): 1865-1948. British Minister of War (1916-1918). 17th Earl of Derby. British Ambassador to France (1918-1920). See Orpen's portrait of Lord Derby at the National Portrait Gallery (UK): http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp03384&role=art&page=1

Ferdinand Foch: 1851-1929. Teacher at the French military college, Ecole de Guerre. Commanded the Ninth Army during the Battle of the Marne. Commanded the Northern Army on the Western Front in 1914 (and blamed for the Somme Offensive, 1916). Chief of the General Staff (1918). Given control of the Allied forces as Allied Supreme Commander in 1918. Foch is considered to be responsible for stopping German advancement at the Second Battle of Marne, thereby ensuring the Allied victory. Foch was made Marshall of France in 1918. Orpen's portrait of Foch is reproduced in Bruce Arnold's book.

Beatrice Glenavy (nee Elvery): (dates variously given as 1886-1970 and 1883-1968). Born in Dublin, Glenavy attended the Metropolitan School of Art where she met and became friends with Orpen. The two continued a correspondence for most of their lives, although they had a falling out not long before Orpen's death. For more about Beatrice Glenavy, see the Biography page. To see Beatrice Glenavy's (Elvery) work online: http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/irish/irish2/text1/eire/body_eire.html

David Lloyd George: 1863-1945. Life-long Liberal politician, first elected as Liberal candidate of Caernarvon Borough constituency. Became the youngest member of parliament at the age of 27. Minister of Munitions and Secretary for War (under Asquith) (1914-1916). Prime Minister of Britain (1916-1922) (George resigned). Served as a moderating influence at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Awarded Order of Merit by King George V the same year. See Orpen's portrait of Lloyd George at the National Portrait Gallery (UK): http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp03384&role=art

Sir Douglas Haig: 1861-1928. Lieutenant General (1914), given command over the 1st Army Corps of the British Expeditionary Force in France. Promoted to General (1914). Commander in Chief of the BEF (1915). Responsible for the First Battle of the Somme in 1916. Heavily criticized by Lloyd George. Commander in Chief of the Home Forces (1919-1921). Orpen's portrait is reproduced in Bruce Arnold's book.

Augustus John: 1878-1961. One of the most celebrated painters during the years of the First World War. Attended the Slade School in London with Orpen where they became fast friends. (Orpen did numerous paintings and caricatures of Johns). Obtained a commission in the Canadian Army during the First World War, although was sent home in disgrace from his posting from France. His friendship with Lord Beaverbrook prevented him from undergoing court martial and John was sent back to France, completing the painting, "Fraternity." Like Orpen, John was one of the painters commissioned to paint the portraits of the politicians at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919. Unlike Orpen, John never finished these commissions. For links to John's works see:

To see Orpen's portrait of John: http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp03384&role=art

Wyndham Lewis: 1882-1957. One of the foremost modernist painters and writers (Blast I, Blast II, Blasting and Bombardiering). Attended the Slade School with Orpen and Johns, although Orpen apparently did not hold the 18 year old Lewis in high regard. Founder of the Vorticist movement (1912). Was a Battery Officer (1916-1918) on the Western Front. Received a commission from the Canadian War Memorials Fund to paint "A Canadian Gun Pit." For links to Lewis online see:

http://www.fluxeuropa.com/wyndhamlewis-art_and_ideas.htm

Herbert Plumer: (1857-1932): Commander of the Second Army (1915-1917). Launched Messignes Ridge Offensive. Salvaged the Passchendaele campaign. Field Marshal (1919), received a peerage. Commander of the Army Occupation on the Rhine (1919). Governor and Commander in Chief of Malta (1919-1924). Active member of the House of Lords. Orpen's portrait of Plumer is not available.

John Singer Sargent: (1856-1925). One of the foremost painters of his era. For comprehensive biographical information, links to portraits by both Sargent and Orpen, and for details about his acquaintance with Orpen, see the John Singer Sargent Virtual gallery: http://www.jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/William_Orpen/Self-Portrait.htm

Henry Tonks (1862-1937): Orpen's primary instructor at Slade. Tonks began a career in medicine, but gave this up to be an artist. He was principal of Slade from 1917-1930. During World War I, Tonks returned to medicine, but also served as a war artist in 1918. To see a self portrait of Tonks: http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp04514&rNo=3&role=sit

An example of Tonks' war art can be seen at: http://www.jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/Henry_Tonks/An_Advanced_Dressing_Station.htm

Hugh Trenchard (1873-1956): along with Winston Churchill, was a key force in establishing the Royal Air Force. Trenchard's portrait is not available.

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) : Governor of New Jersey (1910-1913); 28th President of the United States (1913-1921). Wilson was born in Virginia. He attended Princeton University, the University of Virginia Law School, and received a doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. He became president of Princeton in 1902, before beginning a career in politics. Although Wilson was against involving the U.S. in the war in his initial year of presidency, he changed this position and in 1917 asked congress to declare war on Germany. Due in part to Wilson's active participation in the Peace conference at the end of the war, he suffered a stroke in late 1818. Orpen's portrait of him was painted sometime the following year (1919). See Orpen's portrait of Wilson: http://www.johnhowardsanden.com/commentary/orpen2.htm

W.B. Yeats (1865-1939): Poet, dramatist and prose writer. Born in Dublin, Yeats' family moved to London where he spent his early life. Yeats' works were informed by an intense interest in the occult and mysticism, as well as celtic identity. He returned to Ireland to live permanently in 1896. Yeats and Orpen undoubtedly knew each other (there is even a mention in Bruce Arnold's book about Orpen insulting Yeats during an impromptu poetry reading. however, it is the relationship between Yeats' father, the painter John Butler Yeats (1839-1922) and Orpen that has been documented. Apparently the elder Yeats considered Orpen to be a serious artistic rival.

For Orpen's commissioned portraits of Canadian Army officers and soldiers, see: http://collections.ic.gc.ca/bulletin/num6/wodehouse1.html

For other portraits see: http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp03384&role=art

and: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=1725&page=1