110707

War picture

Study of a Woman Praying 1920

A woman kneeling in a church interior by classical columns, wearing black mourning dress with veiled headdress, a candelabra holding burning candles resting on the base of the pillars behind her

Oil on board, 53.3 x 38.1 cm (21 x 15 in.)

Inscribed lower right: Study - / PA de László / 1920

Private Collection

For years de László had planned “to paint a large picture for my own pleasure”, the so-called War Picture, the subject being the sufferings of the First World War, in particular “the still nobler part of suffering women at home; women of all classes in a chapel surrounding the burning candles for the fallen souls.”^[1] The actual painting was never started but the artist made a number of sketches of which this is a fine example. This work was acquired by Captain George Jervis Wood [111034] or by his wife Róza, née Lónyay [10079], who were both painted by de László.

PROVENANCE:        

By descent in the family

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 372-73

ATG 2013