112250

VERSO

Preparatory work

David Field Beatty c. 1913

Half-length to the right, wearing a sailor suit, all against a background of a stormy sky

Oil on board, 82 x 61.6 cm (32 ¼ x 24 ¼ in.)

Inscribed top left: DAVID

Indistinctly inscribed lower right: Son of Admiral / Lord Beatty / England / P.A. de L.

Sitters Book I, f. 85: David Beatty / 1912 xmas

This is de László’s first attempt at painting the portrait of David Beatty. He completed the final version in May 1913 [2422]. De László painted the portraits of the sitter’s parents Admiral [2803] and Lady Beatty [2421] in 1911, signed in July and December respectively.

Recto is Duchess de Gramont, née Elaine Hélène de Greffulhe [5515].

For biographical notes on the sitter see [2422].

PROVENANCE:

By descent in the family

EXHIBITED:          

•Musée National du Château de Pau, La belle époque des Gramont au temps des équipages, 7 October 1994-31 January 1995, handlist no. 41

•Musée National et domaine du Château de Pau, Maison Baylaucq, L’air de famille: portraits d’enfants de la collection Gramont, 17 February-21 May 2017, no. 18

•Musée Basque et de l’histoire de Bayonne, L’air de famille: portraits d’enfants de la collection Gramont, 16 December 2017-8 April 2018, no. 18

LITERATURE:

•Gramont, Armand, 12th duc de, Unpublished Memoirs, in possession of a descendant of the author, p. 132

•Ribeton, Olivier, Elisa Fontanelli, L’air de famille portraits d’enfants de la collection Gramont, Les Petits cahier du château de Pau no. 7, France, 2017, p. 38, ill.

CC 2010