7836
Study portrait
Princess George of Greece and Denmark, née Princesse Marie Bonaparte 1914
Head and shoulders only in three-quarter profile to the left, wearing a plain gold bandeau in her hair
Oil on board, 91.5 x 72.4 cm (36 x 28 ½ in.)
Inscribed lower left: Paris 1914 / February 3
Inscribed lower right, in blue chalk: a z
Sitters’ Book I, opp. f. 96: Marie / Princesse de Grece / 3 février 1914
Private Collection
De László spent a month of intense activity in Paris 12 January-10 February 1914 and Lucy noted in her diary that he earned £4,400 in that brief time. The commissions he completed included: Baroness Conrad von Meyendorff [10138], Mercedes Mantels de de Bruyn [4822], comtesse Robert de Pourtalès [4848] and Charles de Gramont [8771] son of the duc de Guiche [11801] in whose home de László stayed when working in Paris.
It is not clear if the present portrait was a commission or a gift from the artist to the sitter. De László met King Constantine of Greece [11591], father-in-law of the sitter, during his visit to Paris and was invited to the Royal Court at Athens later that spring to paint members of the Greek Royal family. De László painted the sitter again in 1921 [7837] and one of his portraits of Princess Marie was exhibited at the Charpentier exhibition in 1931 however, it has not yet been established which one.
For biographical notes on the sitter, see [7837].
EXHIBITED:
•Hôtel Charpentier, Paris, Exposition P.A. László, June 1931, no. 11 [either the present picture or [7837]]
•Musée des Avelines, Saint-Cloud, Marie Bonaparte: Portrait d’une femme engagée [Portrait of a Betrothed Lady], 16 September-12 December 2010
LITERATURE:
•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 138
•László, Lucy de, 1914 diary, private collection, 9 February entry, p. 39
KF 2017