111159

UNTRACED

Count Gyula Szapáry^[1] 1900

Half-length seated to the left and in three-quarter profile, wearing díszmagyar, the ceremonial dress of a Hungarian nobleman, a claret coloured jacket, green trousers and decorations, including the Order of the Golden Fleece round his neck, a ring on his left hand, holding a sword in his raised right, both arms resting on the arms of the chair

Oil [support and dimensions unknown]

Sitters’ Book I, f. 13: Gr. Szapáry Gyula [on a page inscribed by the artist: Budapest. 1899. / május 8. and: Bubics Zsigmond / Fraknói Vilmos / Lippich Elek / Hajnal Márton^[2]. They appear to have signed the book together, probably on a visit to the artist’s studio]

The appearance of this portrait is known from a copy by Károly Pongrácz^[3] [7230] made in Szolnok in 1905 and is in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum. Another untraced copy is known to have been painted by Fülöp Szenes.

De László’s first encounter with the sitter occurred in 1884, while he was a young apprentice colouring photographic prints in the studio of the eminent Budapest photographer Strelisky. One of the official portrait photographs he coloured was of Count Szapáry. In his reminiscences of his early life, the artist recalled: “It is interesting to remember that some of the notable people whose photographs I painted became my intimate friends later on; in fact I painted official portraits of more than one of them for the Hungarian National Gallery. Among these were Count Albert Apponyi [2438] and Count Julius [Gyula] Szapáry, who was for many years Prime Minister of Hungary.”^[4]

The present portrait was probably commissioned by the county of Szolnok in the early months of 1898, when the sitter was Minister of Agriculture. He had close connections with Szolnok. De László’s friend and mentor Elek Lippich de Korongh, who was Head of the Arts Department in the Ministry of Education, helped to secure this official commission.^[5] Although dated 1900, the portrait was not finished until March 1901, when in a letter to his friend Bishop Fraknói de László wrote: “I have just today finished three of my portraits – of Szapáry, Andrássy [110812] and Falk [111093], for the Spring Exhibition. The first two of these have been in my studio for years and I am glad that they are being taken away tomorrow afternoon.”^[6] The portrait was hung in the office of Gusztáv Lippich, Főispán (Lieutenant Governor) of the county of Szolnok.^[7] 

At some time prior to 1905, the Ministry of Agriculture commissioned the painter Fülöp Szenes (1863-1944) to copy the painting, which was later transferred to the Prime Minister’s official residence in the Sándor Palace in Budapest.^[8] There it was later joined by de László’s portraits of some of the other Hungarian Prime Ministers: Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry [111984] and Count István Bethlen [2487] and by a drawing of the great national hero, General Görgey [110815].^[9] The Sándor Palace was completely ruined at the end of the Second World War and it is likely that the paintings, including the present one, were destroyed.

Count Gyula Szapáry de Muraszombat, Széchsziget et Szapár was born in Pest on 1 November 1832, the son of Count József Szapáry (1799-1871) and his wife, Baroness Anna Orczy de Orczi (1810-1879). He studied law in Pest and began his public career in the county of Outer Szolnok^[10] where he founded and presided over the county’s Agricultural Association until 1867. He became active in county politics, serving as Vicecomes (Sheriff) of the county of Heves and Outer Szolnok from 1860 and then Comes (Lord Lieutenant) of the county in 1867. He was elected nine times to Parliament. After serving in several junior ministerial posts, he was Minister of the Interior 1873-75, Minister of Finance 1878-1887, Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry 1889-1890, and finally Prime Minister 1890-1892. His main interest was in reforming the counties and the structure and administration of local government. He had the good fortune to have a cabinet of able ministers, which included Sándor Wekerle [111392] as Finance Minister, Dezső Szilágyi [13102] as Minister of Justice, Count András Bethlen [2860] as Minister of Agriculture and László Szögyény-Marich [110803] as Minister a latere to the King – all of whom were painted by de László.

On 30 May 1864 he married Countess Karolina Festetich de Tolna (1838-1919). They had seven children, of whom five reached adulthood: György (born 1865), Lőrinc (born 1866), József (born 1867), Ferenc (born 1869) and Amália (Ilma) (born 1872). After his resignation as Prime Minister, he remained a hereditary member of the House of Magnates. In 1904 he became President of the Hitelbank (Credit Bank). He died in Abbazia (now Opatija in Croatia) on 20 January 1905. In 1939 a statue was erected to him in the city of Szolnok. It was destroyed by bombing in 1944 and a new statue was erected in 2013.

PROVENANCE:

Gusztáv Lippich, Főispán (Lieutenant Governor) of the county of Szolnok;

Royal Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office, Sándor Palace, Budapest;

Destroyed 1945

EXHIBITED:

•Hungarian Fine Art Society, Spring Exhibition (Tavaszi kiállítás), Budapest, 1901, no. 130

•Nemzeti Szalon, Budapest, 1907, no. 23

•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Hungarian Fine Art Society Spring Exhibition and Retrospectives of Philip de László, Mihály Munkácsy, János Pentelei Molnár, Samu Petz and László Hűvös, 4 May - 30 June 1925 [Műcsarnok, Országos Magyar Képzőművészeti Társulat, Budapest, Tavaszi kiállítás és László Fülöp, Munkácsy Mihály, Pentelei Molnár János, valamit Petz Samu és Hűvös László összegyűjtött műveinek kiállítása, 1925. május 4 - június 30.], no. 24 (Property of the Prime Minister’s Office)

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, pp. 28, 176

•Pester Lloyd, 13 April 1934

•Pesti Hírlap, 13 April 1934

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, pp. 8, 10, 18, 26, 28

•DLA033-0092, letter from Count Gyula Szapáry to de László, 8 July 1898

•NSzL150-0066, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, January 1899

•DLA162-0439, Pesti Hírlap, 26 May 1900, p. 6

•DLA044-0057, letter from de László to Vilmos Fraknói, 31 March 1901

•DLA162-0221, Pesti Hírlap, 14 April 1901, p. 6

•DLA011-0037, letter from Fülöp Szenes to de László, undated (prior to November 1905)

•NSzL149-0010, letter from de László to Lajos Ernst, 21 March 1907

•DLA032-0043, letter from Isván Bárczy de Bárcziháza to de László, 28 May 1931

•DLA162-0194, Pesti Hírlap, 13 April 1934, p. 7

Pd’O & BS 2017