This was probably drawn in about 1898-9, when Orpen was at the Slade with his friends Ambrose McEvoy and Augustus John. At the time, McEvoy was a 'short-sighted youth, with a low dark Phil May fringe, an oddly cracked voice and spare, limp body'  (Michael Holroyd, Augustus John, 1996, p 37). The young McEvoy's gangly features also appear in John's student drawing of him  (National Portrait Gallery), sketched in red chalk and possibly done in the same sitting as ours. While John's McEvoy is animated and quizzical, Orpen's is thoughtful and reposed.