10429

The Kupelwieser Family 1907

From the left, Carl Kupelwieser, seated looking to the viewer in a carved wood dining chair wearing a black frock coat with black silk facing, watch chain over his waistcoat and a purple tie, his left hand resting on a small octagonal table, his right hand on his knee; seated next to him, facing the viewer, his younger daughter Paula wearing a mauve satin dress with lace collar and cuffs, right hand to her chin, with a gold and emerald bracelet on her arm, her elbow on the table, her left hand (with ring) resting on an open book; standing next to her, her brother Hans, wearing a dark suit and dark red tie, leaning on the back of the sofa; standing next to him Ida, the elder of the two sisters, in a red dress with white lace collar, wearing a gold double chain necklace, her right arm around her brother’s shoulder; their mother Bertha Kupelwieser seated in three-quarter profile to the left in front of them in a large gilt wood upholstered chair, facing her husband, dressed in black with a white lace blouse, a silver necklace or cameo at her neck, her right arm leaning on a blue cushion in the chair, rings on the fingers of both hands; all against a dark background, top left a classical relief of four dancing girls above an Altdeutsch dresser or mantleshelf, top right, the lower part of a gilded picture frame

Oil on canvas, 192 x 236 cm (75 ½ x 92 ¾ in.)

Inscribed lower right: P.A.László /1907.I.

Sitters’ Book I, f. 56: Dr Carl Kupelwieser / Ida Kupelwieser

Private Collection

While living in Vienna, between 1903 and 1907 de László painted this portrait of the Kupelwieser family, the largest and most complex commission that the artist had undertaken so far.

In April 1903 de László received a letter from Carl Kupelwieser commissioning a portrait of his family. In his reply of 6 May 1903, written just days after the birth of his daughter Eva, the artist wrote that: “I am very pleased to accept the order.”^[1] The artist insisted that Dr Kupelwieser appear in the painting, which infers this was originally not the case. De László indicated that he would endeavour to complete the picture within a year for 10,000 Gulden, a fee he was keen to keep confidential.^[2] The artist appears to have intended to start the picture almost immediately, accepting an invitation to stay at Lunz, the Kupelwieser estate in Lower Austria. He planned to spend two weeks, writing: “I am looking forward to beginning with the family group portrait.”^[3] 

The portrait was painted over a period of four years, largely at the family home in Lunz, and completed in his studio in Vienna. De László was able, with the approval of the Kupelwiesers, to fit the work around other, sometimes more pressing, commissions. In 1903 alone he painted some twenty seven portraits including one of the Emperor Franz Joseph [10664] and the famous violinists Joseph Joachim [5847] and Jan Kubelik [5892].

The evolution of his composition may be traced through some twenty preparatory oil studies and drawings, some untraced and some destroyed. Four show the development of the composition of the group [3512]^[4], [5896], [10699] [95], while the remainder are of the individual sitters: Carl Kupelwieser [10679] [10690] [10692] [10890], his wife Bertha, [10391] [93] [94] [112229] [112121], their daughters Ida [5671] [10688] and Paula [10426], [10694]) and their son Hans [5403][5895] [10682].

A photograph of the artist’s studio in Vienna, circa 1903, shows the painting at an early stage, Ida originally standing to the left. An oil study [10699] that remained in the artist’s studio on his death,^[5] also shows this arrangement, with Carl Kupelwieser’s head corresponding more closely to one of the preliminary oil studies [10679].

The Kupelwiesers cherished the painting very much. More than 25 years after its completion Hans Kupelwieser wrote in a letter to the artist: “Your big family-portrait is hanging in prominent position in the Lunz Schloss, just like 25 years ago. We two survivors, my sister [Paula] Mathes and I, own this picture, just like the estate, together. The painting was, understandably, too precious to both of us to leave it to the other one. Why don’t you come to Lunz to have a look at it!”^[6] There is no evidence that the artist was able to accept this invitation.

For biographical notes on the individual sitters, see Carl Kupelwieser [10890], his wife Bertha [10391], and his children Ida [5671], Paula [10426], and Hans [5895].

LITERATURE:

•Field, Katherine ed., Transcribed by Susan de Laszlo, The Diaries of Lucy de László Volume I: (1890-1913), de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 83, ill. p. 82

•DLA121-0071, letter from de László to Carl Kupelwieser, 6 May 1903

•DLA033-0050, letter from Hans Kupelwieser to de László, 26 June 1932

•DLA121-0070, letter from de László to Carl Kupelwieser, 24 March 1903

CWS & AG  2014