7815

Study portrait

George II of Greece, King of the Hellenes 1935

Head and shoulders in profile to the left, wearing a suit, white shirt and green and white striped tie

Oil on board, 91.5 x 71.2 cm (36 x 28 in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1935 / July 15   

Laib L18982(275) / C10(32): Alexander of Greece [sic]

NPG Album 1934, p. 31a

Sitters’ Book II, f. 84: George. IIR. / June 26th 1935 / [in the artist's hand: (King of Greece)]

Studio Inventory, p. 26 (141): H.M. King George of Greece. Painted for the Artist’s pleasure.

Private Collection

De László painted a half-length portrait of King George [7817] during four sittings in the studio at 3 Fitzjohn’s Avenue in June and July 1935. The sitter returned on 15 July so the artist could paint the present study portrait for his own pleasure: “During 2 hours in the afternoon did a very fine artistic study on cardboard of King George of Greece perfectly finished in oil - just a head I like - to do & like The man - I do hope for his sake - it will have a historical significence [sic] - I did it for me.”^[1] The picture remained in the artist’s studio until his death.

He first painted King George in Athens in 1914 when he was the Crown Prince [7811].

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [7817].

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

Paul Leonardo de Laszlo, his third son

EXHIBITED:

•Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, 90th Annual Exhibition, November 1935-February 1936, no. 214

•Wildenstein’s, London, Exhibition of Paintings by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., 24 November-22 December 1937, no. 15

•World Refugee Year, Exhibition of Treasures, no. 277

LITERATURE:

•“De Laszlo Portraits - On Exhibition in London,” The Illustrated London News, 27 November 1937, p. 951, ill.

•London Studio, Vol 15, February 1938, p 87, ill.

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 265

•László, Philip de, June-November 1935 diary, private collection, 15 July 1935 entry, p. 44

•DLA162-0479, “László Fülöpöt az angol sajtó az arcképfestészet legnagyobb hősei közé sorozza” [Philip de László is Ranked Among the Greatest Heros of Portrait Painting by the English Press], Pesti Hírlap, 28 November 1937, p. 14

KF 2017