Orlando Greenwood Illustrates the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

A full member of the Royal Society of British Artists Orlando Greenwood (1892-1989) was a brilliant and talented artist. But until now there was no indication that he had ever illustrated verses of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. An unexpected discovery of pictures in a box of his work purchased at an auction by Jo Briony brought this work to light. The black and white images were done when he was a 21- to 22-year-old student at Goldsmiths' College of Art. Greenwood appears to have felt a close relationship with the poetry because he used his face to represent Omar Khayyam in one picture. For the first time Orlando Greenwood's Rubaiyat imagery is presented in book form. The 6x9 softcover book features nine of his illustrations plus a frontispiece image. It also explains the serendipitous discovery of these pictures and sheds some insight into Greenwood's life and the selection of quatrains he illustrated.