6829

Lady Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck 1911

Half-length to the left, looking to the viewer, her left hand to her breast, wearing a blue dress with a blue chiffon scarf and a large black hat with a pink bow and flowers

Oil on canvas, 95.9 x 69.9 cm (37 ¾ x 27 ½ in.)

Sitters’ Book I, f. 85: Victoria Bentinck July 26 - 1911 -

Private Collection

This is the very first portrait de László painted for the Portland family, thus marking the start of a remarkable relationship between patron and artist. However, the present work was rejected by the artist, who did not deem it successful.^[1] It is unsigned but the Portland family catalogue and the Duke’s memoirs both state that it was painted in 1911. The finished version was completed at the same time and the sitter wears the same blue gown without a hat [6827].

Despite being dissatisfied with the present portrait, the artist nevertheless gave it to the sitter as a gift. In 1912, history repeated itself when de László painted the sitter’s father, the 6th Duke of Portland. Unhappy with the first version of his portrait [4443], de László started afresh on another canvas [4442], but offered both portraits to the Duke.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [6827].

LITERATURE:          

•Goulding, Richard W., The Catalogue of Pictures. The Duke of Portland. Prepared by C. K. Adams, Cambridge University Press, 1936 (Private printing of 150 copies)

nº 927

•Portland, William Arthur Cavendish-Bentinck (6th Duke), Men, Women and Things, Memories of the Duke of Portland, K.G., G.C.V.O., London, 1937, p. 221

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 275.

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 131

CC 2008