6186

Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham, The Last Days at Chequers 1920

Both seated in high-backed, carved wood chairs in the Hawtrey Room at Chequers, the fireplace to the left and the window to the right; Lady Lee wearing a dark dress and working on a piece of needlepoint, Lord Lee with his ministerial box on the floor at his side, some papers in his left hand, his spectacles in his right

Oil on canvas, 91 x 91 cm (35 ¾ x 35 ¾ in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László 1920. XI   

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 18: Ruth Lee of Fareham 7 November 15th Chequers / Bucks 1

The Administrative Trustees of the Chequers Estate

In 1909 the Lees took over the lease of Chequers in Buckinghamshire and in 1917 Lady Lee and her sister Faith purchased the freehold. They handed it immediately to Arthur Lee who, having no children, made arrangements to bequeath the house to the nation for the use of future Prime Ministers, with an endowment of £100,000 for its upkeep. 

This painting was done by de László in November 1920, to mark Lord and Lady Lee’s planned departure from Chequers on Armistice Day, although they finally left at the very beginning of January 1921.^[1] It was bequeathed with the house and some of the Lees’ art collection, and was hung in a prominent place in the Stone Hall, amongst old master paintings.

Lord and Lady Lee are depicted at the very heart of the dwelling, in the Hawtrey room, named for William Hawtrey, whose descendents lived in the house for some 350 years.^[2] The artist emphasised his sitters’ own legacy to Chequers by representing them comfortably seated in the room – as if caught by surprise in their daily activities – Lady Lee sewing, Lord Lee at work, his papers spread untidily on the floor at the foot of his chair. The room where they blend in so naturally is decorated with many testimonies to Chequers’ history: on the mantelpiece can be seen part of a double portrait of Sir John and Lady Croke,^[3] and above Lord Lee’s head, to the left of the window, hangs the portrait of Mary Wolley,^[4] William Hawtrey’s granddaughter. It is worth noting that the artist also carefully included on the mantelpiece a small 16th century gilt clock that belonged to Oliver Cromwell and complements the Cromwellian chairs in which Lord and Lady Lee sit. Despite these references to British history, this double portrait rather pays homage to the Dutch golden age and especially to Pieter de Hooch and his opulent and light-infused interiors. Such an influence was already present in de László’s portrait of Adèle Tachard, painted in 1901 at her estate, la Forêt, in the Netherlands [7409].

A full-length portrait of Ruth Lee’s sister, Faith Moore, was painted at Chequers and shows this picture hung in the background [6212]. De László painted another double portrait of Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham five years later at their new home at 18 Kensington Palace Gardens [6190].

The artist first met Arthur Lee and his wife at a garden party at Windsor in June 1907. A deep and long-lasting friendship developed between him and the Lees, who brought him a number of important commissions including James Lowther, the Speaker of the House of Commons [10209] and, in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt [5201].

For biographical notes on the sitters, see Lord Lee [11019] and Lady Lee [6184].

EXHIBITED:        

•Christie’s, King Street, London, A Brush with Grandeur, 6-22 January 2004, no. 88

LITERATURE:        

•László, Lucy de, 1920 diary, private collection,10 September entry, p. 254

•Modern Painting II. The Work of P.A. de Laszlo, M.V.O., Foreword by A.L. Baldry, The Studio Limited, London, 1921, ill.

•Lee of Fareham, Arthur Lee, Viscount, A Catalogue of the Principle Works of Art at Chequers, London, H.M. Stationery Off., 1923, pp. 10 & 21, ill. Pl. III

•Lasko, Peter, Revue de l’art, l’institut Courtauld et l’histoire de l’art en Grande-Bretagne, nº 30, 1975, ill. p. 88, pl. 1

•Major, Norma, Chequers, The Prime Minister’s Country House and Its History, London, 1996, pp. 88-9, ill. 12

•De Laszlo, Sandra, ed., & Christopher Wentworth-Stanley, asst. ed., A Brush with Grandeur, Paul Holberton publishing, London 2004, pp. 152-53, ill. p. 152

•Field, Katherine ed., Transcribed by Susan de Laszlo, The Diaries of Lucy de László Volume I: (1890-1913), de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 182, ill.

•Highnam, Paul, “An Epoch-making idea: Chequers Court Buckinghamshire, part II”, Country Life, 13 May 2020, ill. p. 69

We are grateful to the family of Mark Fiennes (d. 2004) for their kind permission to use this image

CC 2008