10498

DESTROYED
Major Gyula Máté-Törék, Commandant of the Royal Hungarian Bodyguard  1927
Standing, half-length in profile to the left, head turned in three-quarter profile looking to the viewer, wearing dress uniform: a white surcoat with gold braid and a red collar, over a red tunic with gold braided sleeves, a blue and gold helmet with a gold and white plume, holding the staff of a vibárd , a gilt sabre at his left hip
Oil on canvas, 131 x 78.7 cm (51 ½ x 31 in.)
Signed and dated lower right: de László / 1927

NPG Album 1927-29, p. 6a
Sitters’ Book II, f. 56: Máté-Törék Gyula / M. Kir. Testőr őrnagy 1927. X./19  [Major, Royal Hungarian Bodyguard]
Studio Inventory, 1938, p. 2 (7): Three quarter length portrait of a Hungarian Guard. This portrait has been frequently exhibited both in England and on the Continent. A Member of the Body Guard. Painted in Budapest 1927, during stay to execute the official portrait of Admiral Horthy for Hungarian Govt. This picture was done for the artist’s pleasure.

In the autumn of 1927 de László was commissioned to paint the portrait of Admiral Horthy, Regent of Hungary [5684]. The artist and his wife were guests of the Regent at his country residence, the Royal Palace of Gödöllő. During his stay de László often visited the officers' mess of the Royal Hungarian Bodyguard, which was the centre of social life in the Palace for members of the Regent's military and cabinet secretariat as well as for the officers of his bodyguard. In his history of the Royal Bodyguard between the two World Wars, Bangha relates that “the genial, cheerful artist obviously enjoyed the company of the officers. He would talk about his paintings and show them an album of reproductions of his best known works, and his sketchbook. His visit was made memorable not only by his conversation, but also by his painting the portrait of Major Gyula Máté-Törék wearing the dress uniform of the halberdiers. He chose Máté-Törék as his sitter because it was he who had the most typical Hungarian features. The painting was very successful.  The Master was himself very pleased with it.”^[1] General Károly Lázár, at that time a newly appointed Captain in the cavalry section of the bodyguard, also remembers de László's visit with pleasure in his memoirs, recalling that Major Máté-Törék's portrait was painted in eight half-hour sittings. “The great Master always seemed to be in a cheerful mood, and when he was painting, we could never cease to be amazed at the remarkable speed with which he worked.”^[2]

The present portrait was not commissioned by the sitter; de László painted it entirely for his own pleasure.^[3] He must have been proud of the portrait, for it was prominently displayed in a photograph showing the artist sitting in the dining room of the Royal Castle (which had been converted to serve as his studio), together with the five important commissioned portraits he had painted during his stay in Gödöllő.^[4] The portrait was a great success when it was first exhibited at the Hungarian Fine Art Society’s Winter Exhibition in December 1927. Máté-Törék wrote to de László: “Everybody who knows me says that it is such a good likeness that my person seems to step out of the picture.”^[5] When the portrait was shown in Rome in 1928, Máté-Törék wrote: “The portrait that you painted of me is so true to life, that when I introduce myself to  ladies and gentlemen they often say ‘It is quite unnecessary - we already know you from the László portrait.’”^[6] De László's brother Marczell was so enchanted with the painting that he wrote to the artist: “I would be so happy if I could have this Máté portrait for my son - when I am no longer here, my son would have a painting by you which is worth a fortune”^[7]. However, de László kept the portrait throughout his life, and frequently exhibited it both in England and on the continent. The image of a brave soldier, his characteristically Hungarian features and his spectacular helmet and uniform must all have appealed to de László's patriotic pride, especially when, for the first time after the First World War, he was welcomed back to Hungary to general acclaim by the Hungarian press and by fellow artists.

De László was always fascinated by historical costume.^[8] At home he kept an assortment of clothes which reflected his fondness for mediaeval pageantry, and he possessed a copy of Man in a Gold Helmet, then assumed to be by Rembrant, which served as a source of inspiration for some of his portraits.^[9] An early example is his portrait of Comte Jean de Castellane (1899) as a Cuirassier [3765], and while in Rome in 1924, he painted a member of the Swiss Papal Guard [11046] and Count Michele Moroni in the uniform of a colonel of the Pope's Guardia Nobile [6363]. The Royal Hungarian Bodyguard was descended from the Hungarian noblemen's bodyguard formed in Vienna in 1760 by the Empress-Queen Maria Teresia. Their dress uniform (as shown in the present portrait) was a bright red gold-braided tunic (an "Atilla") and trousers, worn under a gold-braided white surcoat with a red collar. The pointed helmet had gilt decoration and a feather holder with a white egret feather.^[10] The halberdiers section of the Bodyguard were armed with a "vibárd," a type of halberd decorated with the Crown of St. Stephen, and a sabre. Unfortunately, the painting was destroyed in a warehouse fire in 1989, but a good black and white illustration can be seen in Derek Clifford's monograph on de László.^[11] 

Vitéz^[12] Gyula Máté-Törék was born in Losonc in northern Hungary on 17 April 1887.^[13] His family however, was of székely origin.^[14] He attended a cadet school and became a professional soldier, serving in a székely infantry regiment. He had a distinguished record in the First World War, attaining the rank of captain. In August 1920, when the Royal Bodyguard of the Kingdom of Hungary was re-established, Máté-Törék was one of the first of eight officers appointed to the Guard. They were selected on the grounds of their personal loyalty to Admiral Horthy, who with his National Army had ousted the communist regime of Béla Kun and was elected Regent in March 1920. Máté-Törék was promoted to Major, and from 1928 became Commander of the infantry section of the Guard. He retired in 1937 with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and married Wanda Kröger, a wealthy woman. They built a villa in Gödöllő, where they lived a very isolated life. He is said to have been a singularly reserved, aloof and solitary man, who spoke of himself as being a “táltos”, an ancient pagan Hungarian shaman.^[15] He was an extreme Hungarian nationalist and wrote articles in the far-right and virulently anti-Semitic journal, “Cél” (Aim). He published several books which were placed on the index of prohibited literature in 1945.^[16] During the communist regime after the war he was sentenced to imprisonment on political charges. When called upon to petition for his release he proudly refused. He is said to have responded: “I hate your lot, I will not ask you for anything.” After his eventual release he returned to Gödöllő and worked as a night watchman. He died on 23 September 1957.

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

Paul Leonardo de Laszlo, his third son;

By descent in the family;

Destroyed in a fire in 1989

EXHIBITED:
•Budapest, Országos Magyar Képzőművészeti Társulat (Hungarian Fine Art Society) Téli KiállÍtás (Winter Exhibition) December 1927-February 1928, no. 26
•Palazzo dell’ Esposizione, Rome, Mostra d’Arte Ungherese (Exhibition of Hungarian Art), May-June 1928, no. 92
•Dundee, Dundee Corporations Gallery, Special Exhibition of the Works of Philip de László, M.V.O., 7-12 May 1929, no. 12
•Bristol, Royal West of England Academy, 84th Annual Exhibition, 4 November 1929-8 February 1930, no. 237
•Glasgow, Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Autumn Exhibition, 1930, no. 248
•Bristol, Royal West of England Academy, 87th Annual Exhibition ,October 1932-February 1933, no. 195

•East Sussex Art Club, Exhibition of Pictures, Borough Museum, April 1933

LITERATURE:
•Williams, Oakley (ed.) Selections from the Work of P. A. de László, Hutchinson, London, 1921, p. 17
•Nyolc Órai Újság (Eight O'Clock News), 22 October 1927
•Pesti Napló (Pest Diary), 23 October 1927, pp. 78-79, ill.
•The Illustrated London News, 29 Octber 1927, ill.
•Pesti Hírlap (Pest News) 22 October 1927
•Budapesti Hírlap (Budapest News) 13 November 1927
•Az Est (Evening newspaper), 28 November 1927
•Pester Lloyd (Budapest German language newspaper), 18 December 1927
•Pesti Napló (Pest Diary) 18 December 1927, p. 78, ill.
•Clifford, Derek, The Paintings of P. A. de Laszlo, Literary Services & Production Ltd., London, ill. pl. 38 and on back cover of book jacket
•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, Hodder and Staughton, London, 1939, p. 369
•Bangha, Ernő, A Magyar Királyi Testőrség 1920-1944 (The Royal Hungarian Bodyguard 1920-1944), Európa könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1990, pp. 37-8, 304-5
•Lázár, Károly, Lázár Károly testőr altábornagy visszaemlékezései (The Memoirs of Lieutenant General Károly Lázár), Nyíregyháza, 2007, p. 32
•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, Philip de László. His Life and Art, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2010, p. 209
•Sallay, Gergely Pál, Megkésett elismerés. László Fülöp és a Magyar Corvin Díszjelvény (A Belated Recognition. Philip de László and the Hungarian Corvin Badge of Honour), Katonaújság (Solders' Journal), Vol. II., n° 6, December 2011, pp. 12-19, ill. p. 16

•Hart-Davis, Duff, László Fülöp élete és festészete [Philip de László's Life and Painting], Corvina, Budapest, 2019, ill. 148

•DLA162-0375, Rákosi, Jenő, “Bucsuebéd” [Farewell Lunch], Pesti Hírlap, 22 October 1927, pp. 1-2

•DLA162-0288, Pesti Hírlap, 18 December 1927, p. 7  
•DLA043-0010, letter from Mrs. D. Seemann to de László, 19 December 1927
•DLA030-0013, letters from Gyula Máté-Törék to de László, 7 February 1928, 1 October 1928, and 12 November 1928
•DLA030-0005, letter from István Bárczy de Bárcziháza to de László, 22 February 1928
•DLA043-0010, letter from Marcell László to de László, 17 March 1928
•DLA030-0022, letter from Géza Paur to de László, 22 September 1928

•DLA016-0058, letter from de László to István Bárczy de Bárcziháza, 28 November 1928
•DLA035-0045, letter from Gyula Máté-Törék to de László, 30 July 1934
•DLA035-0046, letter from Gyula Máté-Törék to de László, 10 August 1934
•DLA035-0044, Letter from Gyula Máté-Törék to de László, 13 October 1934

We are grateful to Marianna Kaján, curator of the Royal Palace Museum, Gödöllő, for drawing our attention to the Memoirs of General Lázár and for pointing out her technical description.   

Pd'O 2012