For sale – ‘The Three Blind Men Watched by the Thief’ (Arabian Nights series), by Sir William Orpen (1901).
pencil, coloured chalks and wash on paper.
34 by 49cm., 13½ by 19¼in. Signed : ‘Orpen, 1901’, Lower Left.
Lot 86 – https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/refining-taste-works-selected-by-danny-katz
Sale Date – May 20 – May 27, 2020.

UPDATE: Sold for £6500 Hammer price – Buyer paid £8125.

The present work belongs to a number of drawings based on stories from the Arabian Nights which Orpen produced between 1899 and 1904.
Thumbnail sketch record.

Provenance : Artists Studio Book: Spring 1901, as “Arabian Nights – Drawing of Three Blind Men” (with thumbnail sketch) ‘NEAC’, sold to C.T. Moore for £10.

C.T. Moore (1901).

Robert Dunthorne Esq., 5 Vigo Street, London (by 1914).

Robert Dunthorne & Sons, The Rembrandt Gallery, 5 Vigo Street, London, W.1.

Estate of William Black, Westport, CT., USA.

Private Collection, Florida.

Private Collection, Florida (by descent).

Exhibited : London, New English Art Club, Spring 1901, No.37, as ‘The Thief and Three Blind Men (Arabian Nights)’.

London, Guildhall, 1904, Exhibition of Works by Irish Painters, No.254 as ‘Three Blind Men (Arabian Nights), (Lender C. H. Moore Esq).

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, 1914, 88th Exhibition, No.617, as ‘The Three Blind Beggars, The Arabian Nights’, (Lender: Robert Dunthorne Esq, 5 Vigo Street, London).

Studio Book Reference : 03/22-1901.

Cara Copland Ref : D01:03 & M01:13.

Previous sale record 2014:  Sotheby’s London – Estimate 8,000 GBP – 12,000 GBP.

See previous blog post with other images from Orpen’s Arabian Nights series: – https://www.sirwilliamorpen.com/scene-from-the-arabian-nights-by-william-orpen-christies/

Post by Dominic Lee.