DLA017-0018 Transcription

FULTHORPE STUDIOS,

3D WARWICK AVENUE,

PADDINGTON, W.2.

April 4th [1930]

Dear Mr de Laszlo

The letter from your secretary & the enclosure I received this morning^[1] – has staggered me – What am I to say – or do – My efforts were so poor – and without the Master’s hand – would have been worthless – I feel I must look upon it as a gift – which I am sure I do not deserve, & to say thank you fails

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to express my great appreciation of your great generosity – which has touched me more than I can say.

I sincerely hope in the future, I shall be able to reciprocate in some small way – for all your kind thoughts and the many kindnesses I have received from you

Again many many thanks | Yours sincerely

Sydney P. Kendrick

Editorial Note:

Sydney Percy Kendrick (1874-1955), British artist. Kendrick was one of de László’s favoured official copyists; exhibited at the Royal Academy as a painter of genre and landscape paintings.

SMDL

08/01/2018

[1] See DLA019-0066, letter from de László’s secretary on behalf of de László to Sydney Kendrick, 3 April 1930, in which a cheque for £500 was enclosed for “payment of the preparation of the canvasses of Mr. Eastman’s two pictures [5001] [5004].” From contemporary correspondence, it appears that whilst de László first gave the commission to Kendrick, he then undertook the work himself. In a letter to her son Paul, Lucy de László writes: “Dads came over for a week & I don’t know what all [sic] he didn’t get thro’ in that time – including the two portraits for Mr Eastman: His Father & Mother [5001] [5004]. I’ve just come from Mr Kendrick’s studio – I went to see the pictures. Dads had practically wiped out the work that K. had done, & he painted the lady in about 2 hours, & another date he painted the man in three hours – Mr K. said he is a “wizard”! (Letter from Lucy de László to her son Paul, 9 Feb 1930, private collection).