DLA020-0283 Transcription
LANGFORD,
LECHLADE,
GLOS.
9/12/1932.
My dear De Laszlo,
How kind of you to send me the Illustrated London News with the reproduction of your Portrait of the Archbishop of Canterbury [6161] – I saw the reproduction in “The Times” but this is better, a wonderfully rich print.[1] It is a splendid Portrait, the eyes are full of thought & meaning & the mouth has the strength which is characteristic. He must have been a most interesting subject & delightful to paint – Your still life too is delightful & a wonderfully good piece of colour printing, & we thank you for it & for your good wishes which we warmly reciprocate. I am very sorry to hear about Baldry[2] & his son – He is a delightful man, so quiet & sincere, & he has such good judgement. It is very kind of you to suggest that I should stay the night some time when in town & I should love to do it. As a matter of fact you are too busy a man to shorten your rest & you ought to have complete quiet after you
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have done your days work. I often think of Frank Holl,[3] who lived almost opposite your house, he used to leave his work & take a quiet walk in the Heath, looking thoroughly worn out. Portrait painting is a great strain on the nerves, & real rest is absolutely necessary. I should very much like, sometime, to hear your views on the Brangwyn Panels. They seem to me, wonderful as they are from a purely decorative point of view, to [lack?] centre of interest, being a conglomeration of multitudinous people and animals. I should like to see the originals – What on earth will become of them now that the House of Lords won’t have them?[4] Surely, they should be a centre of interest, a motive. I want very much to know what your big picture is going to be – perhaps some day I may see some of the studies – I haven’t a doubt that you will produce something very fine.[5]
With kindest greetings to you all
Yours ever sincerely
Robert Morley.
Editorial Note:
Robert Morley (1857–1941), British artist
SMDL
14/09/2018
[1] The Illustrated London News, 3 December 1932, ill. front cover
[2] Alfred Lys Baldry (1858–1939) [3562], British artist and art critic
[3] Frank Holl (1845–1888), British artist and Royal Academician
[4] In 1930, Sir Frank Brangwyn’s decorative scheme for the Royal Gallery in the Palace of Westminster, which he had been commissioned to undertake, was rejected by the Fine Art Commission as being unsuitable. The panels were subsequently purchased by Swansea Council and are now housed at Brangwyn Hall.
[5] De László had planned to paint a picture for his own pleasure on a subject in connection with the First World War. He wished to depict: “not men fighting, but the still nobler part of suffering women at home; women of all classes in a chapel surrounding the burning candles for the fallen souls” (Rutter, pp. 372-373). The painting was never started, although many studies and sketches remained in his studio on his death.