110971 

Count Ferdinand Kinsky 1899

Head and shoulders to the right, full face looking to the viewer, wearing a blue uniform with the imperial crest on his left, against a burgundy background

Oil on canvas, 67 x 54 cm (26 ⅓ x 21 ⅓ in.)

Inscribed lower left: Laszlo F.E. / 1899 

Sitters’ Book I, f. 5: Ferdinand Kinsky 

Collection Castle Jaromĕřice nad Rokytnou

Inv. no.  JR 9579  

On loan to Castle Mährisch, Krumau, Czech Republic  

In April 1899 Count Ferdinand Kinsky and his wife Aglaë [110919] were painted by de László at the Hotel Imperial in Vienna. The artist’s six week stay resulted in numerous portraits of the Austrian aristocracy: Max Egon II Fürstenberg [3360], his wife [5297] and their son [5300], Fürstin Trauttmansdorff [110813], Rudolf Fürst zu Liechtenstein [110972], Fürstin Montenuovo [111079], Count Tasziló Festetics [111493], whose daughter was sister-in-law to Max Egon Fürstenberg’s sister-in-law. He also painted Count Arthur von Schönborn-Wiesentheid [10556], a relation of the Ratibor family, and Archduke Ludwig Victor [23], brother of  Emperor Franz Joseph [12700].

De László described Kinsky as “the smartest man in Vienna.”^[1] It would appear that Count Kinsky originally intended to commission his own portrait and a pendant of his wife, however, the fee of 3000 Marks for a half-length portrait was too much and he was only able to afford his own.^[2] The family were so important and well-connected it is probable that the artist offered to paint both portraits for a reduced fee.  

Ferdinand Vincenz Rudolf Kinsky was born in Dornau, south of Vienna, on 8 September 1866, the son of Ferdinand Bonaventura Fürst Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1834-1904) and Marie Prinzessin von und zu Liechtenstein (1835-1905). The Kinsky family were one of the oldest aristocratic families in Bohemia and able to trace their lineage to the start of the 13th century. On 14 July 1892 in Prague he married Aglaë, Princess Auersperg (1868-1919) daughter of Prinz Adolf Wilhelm von Auersperg (1821-1885) and Gräfin Johanna von Festetics de Tolna (1830-1884). They had seven children: Ulrich (born 1893), Ernestine (born 1895), Marie Valerie (born 1896), Rudolf (born 1898), Marie (born 1900), Johanna (born 1902) and Ferdinand (born 1907).

The Kinsky family were renowned horsemen and Count Oktavian Kinsky (1813–1896) was a noted breeder of horses at the family stud in Eastern Bohemia, where the golden Kinsky horse was developed by crossing their lines with English thoroughbreds. He also introduced fox hunting and point-to-point racing to the country, influencing the sitter’s brother, Count Charlie Kinsky, who won the Grand National riding his own Zoedone in 1883. Count Ferdinand Kinsky served as Deputy Master of the Horse to his uncle Rudolph von Liechtenstein (1838-1909) at the Austrian Imperial court and succeeded him as Master of the Horse in 1908.  He had a very successful career as an amateur jockey and won several prizes in horse racing between 1886 and 1893.^[3] 

Count Ferdinand suffered a stroke on 3 February 1916 and died in his Viennese Palace aged only forty-nine.  

PROVENANCE:

By descent in the family;

Castle Jaromĕřice nad Rokytnou, c. 1945

LITERATURE:        

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 58

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1939, p. 175

BS & KF 2023