Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen was an Irish-born painter who is considered the main exponent of Post-Impressionism in Britain. His talent was encouraged early and he was enrolled at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin at the age of eleven. At the age of seventeen Orpen moved to London and attended the Slade School of Fine Art. In 1899, he exhibited his works for the first time, and in 1902, he opened a studio in Chelsea together with his former fellow student Augustus John, where they taught students. John Singer Sargent, whose work strongly influenced Orpen, recommended the young artist to his clients, so that Orpen quickly became a portrait painter in great demand. In addition, Orpen also painted typical Impressionist landscapes. In 1914, Orpen enlisted for military service and was initially assigned to office work in a barracks in London. From 1916, he worked with other artists for the War Artist Project of the War Propaganda Bureau. In 1917, he was deployed to the Western Front, where he documented the events of the war with portraits of fallen war heroes, but also with paintings such as Dead Germans in a Trench or A Tank. Most of his war paintings are now housed in the Imperial War Museum in London. After the war, Orpen was appointed official portraitist of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. In the following years, he created numerous portraits of important personalities, e.g. Winston Churchill and the US President Woodrow Wilson. Orpen received numerous honours, was knighted and was an honorary member of the Royal Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. When he died at the age of 52, his oeuvre comprised more than 600 portraits.