5572

Study portrait
Baron Frigyes Harkányi 1912
Head and shoulders only to the right, in three-quarter profile, wearing a dark suit and tie with a pearl tie-pin and a white shirt
Oil on board, 52.7 x 35.5 cm (20 ½ x 14 in.)
Inscribed lower left: László Fülöp / 1912. Sept. London

Sitters’ Book I, f. 90: Báró Harkányi Frigyes / v.b.t.t./ London, 1912 Septembr 4

Magyar Nemzeti Galéria (Hungarian National Gallery), Budapest

Baron János Harkányi commissioned a formal three-quarter length portrait of his father [111091] and the present picture in 1912. A second study portrait was also painted [5575] at this time and kept by the artist, remaining in his studio until his death. The sittings took place in London between 29 August and 7 September 1912 and the artist’s appointment diary shows that Harkányi was in the studio 29, 30, 31 August, 2, 4, 5, 6 September.

De László’s honorarium for the two portraits was 16,000 Crowns and the Harkányi family were delighted with them.^[1] The sitter’s son János wrote: “The large picture which you painted for myself, and the smaller one, are such that I can only speak of them with the greatest delight. Not only is the likeness surprising, but they also reflect my father’s whole being...The whole family, children and grown-ups, marvel at it, debating about which of the two they prefer. You have given me and my wife great happiness, dear Master, with these pictures.”^[2] 

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [111091].

PROVENANCE:
The sitter;
Hungarian National Gallery, date of acquisition unknown

EXHIBITED:

•Berlin, 1912

•Nemzeti Szalon, Budapest, Téli kiállítás [Winter Exhibition], 1912

LITERATURE:
•Vasárnapi Újság, 29 December 1912, p. 1051, ill.

•Hart-Davis, Duff, László Fülöp élete és festészete [Philip de László's Life and Painting], Corvina, Budapest, 2019, ill. 109

•DLA035-0017, letter from Baron Frigyes Harkányi to de László, 2 June 1912
•DLA035-0016, letter from Baron Frigyes Harkányi to de László, 22 June 1912

•DLA038-0106, letter from Baron Frigyes Harkányi to de László, 29 September 1912
•DLA035-0022, letter from Baron János Harkányi to de László, 15 November 1912

•DLA035-0012, letter from Baron János Harkányi to de László, 23 November 1912

•DLA162-0343, Pesti Hírlap, 21 December 1912, p. 8

•László, Philip de, 1912 appointment book, private collection



Pd’O 2018