5634

Prince Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse, Head of all the House of Hesse 1928

Standing three-quarter length slightly to the left and looking to the right, wearing early 17th century costume with a ruff and doublet, and holding his gloves and plumed hat in his right hand (the costume was apparently used in a pageant to commemorate the first Prince of Savoy)

Oil on canvas, 116 x 88.5 cm (45 ⅝ x 34 ⅞ in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / TORINO 1928 

Laib L15521 (507) / C12 (20)  

Sitters’ Book II, f. 59: Philipp Prinz von Hessen. / Turin. Juni 1928.

Private Collection

In 1907 de László painted Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and the Rhine [5937] and his wife Eleonore, née Princess zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich [5933], from the younger branch of the Hesse family.

The present portrait was painted in Turin in 1928 together with a portrait of the sitter’s brother-in-law Prince Umberto of Savoy [7890].

The full entry for this portrait is in preparation.

EXHIBITED:         

•French Gallery, London, One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Exhibition: a Series of Portraits and Studies by Philip A. de László, M.V. O., July 1929, no. 35

•Haus der Kunst, Munich, Schatzhäuser Deutschlands, Kunst in adligem Privatbesitz, 2004-5, no. 41        

•Portland Art Museum, Oregon, Hesse, A Princely German Collection, 2005

LITERATURE:        

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 370

•Rogasch, Wilfried, Schatzhäuser Deutschlands, Kunst in adligem Privatbesitz, Prestel, Munich 2004, p. 41 ill.

•Unter-Stiebel, Penelope, with forewords by H.R.H. Moritz Landgraf of Hesse and John E. Buchanan, Jr., Hesse, A Princely German Collection, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2005, p. 200

•Petropoulos, Jonathan, Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 377, ill. p. 378

•László, Lucy de, 1928 diary, private collection, 5 June entry, pp. 32-33

ATG 2012