10491

Philip Alexius de László his wife Lucy and their son Henry 1918

Three-quarter length, all standing before an easel, the artist holding his palette and brushes in his right hand, his left arm reaching forward to touch the canvas, Lucy wearing a white dress, Philip and Henry in suit and tie

Oil on board, 45 x 33.5cm (17 ¾ x 13 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1918 Sept. London [incised into paint]  

Inscribed verso: Finished this trio portrait of us on the 27th of Sept. 1918 in the days of distress and hope for happier times to come [pencil]

Laib L8948 (812) / C20 (28A)  

NPG 1917-21 Album, p. 49

Private Collection

This portrait of the artist with his wife and eldest son was painted in September 1918 at a nursing home in Ladbroke Gardens, during his internment. He had been transferred there in May 1918, having suffered a nervous breakdown at Holloway Prison. De László’s state of frailty then was not only psychological: he had also lost 3 ½ stones in weight. Although his health was partly restored when he painted this picture, his weight loss is visible, and he still had no idea when he might be released. This is a small but complex painting, characteristic in many ways of the pictures he was to paint while under house arrest^[1]: a portrait in an interior, it shows a preoccupation with the treatment of light, a predilection for jewel-like colours – in this instance, ultramarine blue – and a fascination with the use of mirrors.

The artist is shown in the act of painting his self-portrait using a tall mirror, the top of which is reflected to infinity in the looking glass on the white marble mantelpiece behind him (the very same in which Lucy’s image is mirrored in a portrait he executed just before completing the present work [11621]). That long mirror had already been used by de László in July, in a small related oil sketch entitled ‘through the mirror’ [13522]. Although by nature a self-portrait points towards the act of representation, de László further emphasizes this function by portraying himself with the tools of his trade: his easel, palette and mahlstick, and the mirror used to execute this work. The representation of that device within the frame of the second mirror introduces a new dimension and thus disrupts the pictorial space, highlighting again the process of representation. The act of painting, at the heart of that self-portrait, is repeatedly underlined. A reminder of de László artful mediation in capturing this ‘reflection’ in the mirror is the fact that his painting arm was the right one and not the left, as represented here.

Other metapictorial references are introduced in this self-portrait through the inclusion of ‘paintings within the painting’: a 1902 portrait drawing of Lucy on the mantelpiece [6758], and a Mocking of Christ on the wall behind, a rare watercolour^[2] he had completed in Holloway [12251]. That religious reference is echoed by the discreet but significant presence of a crucifix on a chain round the artist’s neck.^[3] During his internment, de László found comfort in his strengthened faith, and he identified himself with the trials of Christ, His innocence and the cruelty He suffered. He considered painting a picture of the Crucifixion^[4] and wrote, “In the restless past I scarcely ever had the opportunity to pass so much time in meditation as I do now. It is a great help to me. Only now do I realize how much the Almighty has granted me. In my adversity and solitude I have learnt to understand much. It is a warning for the future to live more wisely, and to appreciate what I possess in love and gifts.”^[5] Lucy noted in her diary: “Laczi^[6] is undergoing inner changes re life & his work.”^[7] 

De László’s treatment of light is particularly notable here. As Lucy recorded around that time, “He says he could not paint the pictures he used to anymore – in the conventional light of a North light studio: ‘I have quite changed my ideas’.” ^[8] With the pressure of commissions, the artist would return to the more conventional light of his studio after the war, but the treatment of the present group – lit from an invisible window to the left – demonstrates a careful use of tonal values to render the effect of sunlight, particularly evident in the modelling of the faces. To achieve such tonal realism, de László combined great attention to detail with sweeping brushstrokes, bringing a sense of immediacy to the scene. The ultramarine blue that dominates the right section of the painting further enhances its vibrancy. De László always favoured that pigment – usually in small touches – but during his internment, he made a more expansive use of bold colours.

Despite the sophistication of its composition, the picture presents itself as a spontaneous snapshot of family life. During that period, the artist turned to interiors to add an atmosphere of warmth and intimacy to his portraits.

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death

EXHIBITED:

•Christie’s, King Street, London, A Brush with Grandeur, 6-22 January 2004, n° 80

LITERATURE:

•Baldry, Alfred Lys, “Some Paintings and Drawings by Mr P.A. de László”, in The Studio Magazine, London, February 1921, Vol. LXXXI (81), n° 335, Article pp. 44-57, ill. p. 53              

•Clifford, Derek, The Paintings of P. A. de Laszlo, London 1969, ill. pl. 36

•Szinházi élet, volume XX, issue 3, Budapest, 12-18 January 1930, p. 4, ill.

•De Laszlo, Sandra, ed., & Christopher Wentworth-Stanley, asst. ed., A Brush with Grandeur, Paul Holberton publishing, London, 2004, pp. 146-47, ill. p. 146

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 167, ill. 94

•Hart-Davis, Duff, László Fülöp élete és festészete [Philip de László's Life and Painting], Corvina, Budapest, 2019, ill. 119

•MacDonogh, Giles, “To Frame a Painter,” History Today, Vol. 71, Issue 2, London, February 2021, p. 51, ill.

•László, Lucy de, 1918 diary, private collection, 1 November entry, p. 335

CC 2010