111344

Count Isván Bethlen 1923

Head and shoulders, slightly to the right, looking full face to the viewer, wearing a dark jacket and waistcoat with a wing collar, a black necktie, and a white pocket handkerchief in his left breast pocket.

Oil on canvas, 82 x 54.5 cm (32 ⅓ x 21 ½ in.)

Private Collection

This portrait was painted in London in April 1923, when Count Bethlen was in Britain to negotiate the payment of Hungary's war reparations. During that month the sitter travelled first to Paris, then to London, then back to Paris, and finally to Rome. It is not surprising that in his portrait he looks strained.

Three and a half years later, in October 1927, de László visited Hungary and painted a three-quarter length official portrait of Count Bethlen [2487]. At that time the present portrait was hanging in the Sándor Palace, the Prime Minister's official residence in Buda. The sitter's wife, Countess Margit Bethlen [10458], commented on the present portrait to a journalist: "This portrait of István was painted by Philip de László four years ago. It is a splendid portrait. The great artist saw my husband like this - as a tired and sick man, which he was at the time - because he went from Paris to London after such a great deal of work, that he was completely exhausted. He was suffering from a sore throat and stomach trouble but he continued working in this condition. He was often working until three in the morning, and by nine o'clock he was in the studio. One can see this on his portrait, but I love it all the same."^[1] 

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [2487].

PROVENANCE:

Sándor Palota (Sándor Palace), Budapest, 1927

EXHIBITED:

•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Hungarian Fine Art Society, Tavaszi kiállítás és László Fülöp, Munkácsy Mihály, Pentelei Molnár János, valamit Petz Samu és Hűvös László összegyűjtött műveinek kiállítása [Spring Exhibition and Retrospectives of Philip de László, Mihály Munkácsy, János Pentelei Molnár, Samu Petz and László Hűvös], 4 May - 30 June 1925,  no. 22

•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Hungarian Fine Art Society, Téli kiállítás [Winter Exhibition], December 1927 - February 1928, no. 19

LITERATURE:

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, pp. 44, 46

•DLA162-0358, Bethlen, Margit, “László Fülöp három képe” [Three Pictures by Philip de László], Pesti Hírlap, 24 November 1937, p. 4

•DLA162-0270, Pesti Hírlap, 16 May 1925, p. 5

•DLA162-0147, Balla, Ignác, “Egy óra a Várban, Bethlen Margit grófnőnél” [An Hour in the Castle at Countess Bethlen], Pesti Hírlap, 9 October 1927, p. 5

•DLA162-0461, Bethlen, Margit, “Tárgyak” [Objects], Pesti Hírlap, 27 November 1942, p. 8

P d'O  2012