Jacob Epstein of Epstein's early commissions is "Oscar Wilde's tomb" in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, "which was condemned as indecent and at one point was covered in tarpaulin by the French police." Between 1913 and 1915, Epstein was associated with the short-lived Vorticism movement and produced one of his best known sculptures "The Rock Drill". In 1915, John Quinn, wealthy American collector and patron to the modernists, bought some Epstein sculptures to add to his private collection. In 1916, Epstein was commissioned by Viscount Tredegar to produce a bronze head of Newport poet W. H. Davies. The bronze, regarded by many as
Jacob Epstein (banker) the favor of the Russian government, as is evidenced by his appointment as banker of the treasury commission of the Kingdom of Poland in 1838. Epstein was the founder and president of the Jewish hospital at Warsaw, on which he spent large sums and which he raised to a high standard of efficiency. Tsar Nicholas I, who visited the institution, conferred on Epstein the title of "hereditary honorary citizen." The high respect in which Epstein was held by the Christian population of Warsaw is best indicated by his election to membership in the commission of charities, which consisted mostly of