4058

Preparatory work

Viscount Cecil of Chelwood 1932

Standing, three-quarter length to the right, his head turned and looking to the left, wearing a dark suit under his robes as Chancellor of Birmingham University, his left arm resting on a balustrade and his right hand holding a document

Oil on canvasboard, 49.6 x 39.1 cm (19 ½ x 15 ⅜ in.)

Inscribed verso in the artist’s wife’s hand: Study of Lord Robert Cecil 

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 73:  Cecil 1 June 1932

Studio Inventory p. 59 (308): Lord Robert Cecil (Study). Study for the portrait in Life Possession of Lord Robert Cecil, which is to be given to the National Portrait Gallery after his death. The portrait was commissioned by the League of Nations Unions, the cheque was returned to them by the artist as a donation.

Private Collection

This preparatory oil sketch was completed during the sittings for the formal portrait, where the sitter is shown seated and nearly full-length [4053]. That portrait is now in the collection of Birmingham University but was originally commissioned by the League of Nations Union (LNU). As indicated in his Studio Inventory, de László eventually returned his honorarium for the commission to the LNU as a donation.

There exist preparatory pencil sketches [3287] & [3292] for the finished portrait, both of which were in the possession of the artist on his death. De László also kept a fine portrait drawing as a souvenir of his sitter [110603]. A head and shoulders study portrait [4055], also painted in 1932, was presented to the sitter by a group of friends and admirers.

For biographical notes on the sitter see [4053].

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death,

Martin de Laszlo, one of his grandsons

KF 2015