9126

Study portrait

The Duchess of York née Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon 1931

Half-length, in three-quarter to the right with her head turned towards the viewer, wearing a black off-the-shoulder dress and a double string of pearls

Oil on canvas, 89.5 x 69.9 cm (35 ¼ x 27 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László / 1931 VIII 5.   

Laib L17048 (151) / C8 (11)  

NPG 1931 Album, p. 22

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 70: Elizabeth July 29th 1931

Private Collection

In 1931, at the Duchess of York’s request, de László painted her parents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, on the occasion of their golden wedding [11641] & [11642]. It seems de László had not met her since painting her portrait in 1925 [4460], at the time of her engagement with the Duke of York [9123], and he was deeply impressed by her beauty and intelligence when she accompanied her mother to one of her sittings, on 3 July 1931.

The artist offered to paint her again, which she accepted with enthusiasm. Firm arrangements were made on 23 July, when they met again at the Royal garden party.  The first sitting took place only five days later, on 28 July, but he did not immediately tackle the present work, and started a more elaborate painting of her wearing a large black hat instead [12183]. However, after three consecutive sittings, he put that portrait aside, and gave priority to this one. As the Duke of York had granted de László a sitting for a study-portrait on 30 July, and probably could not spare time for a second one, it is likely that de László preferred to paint a companion piece in the same style. He thus started the present work on 5 August at eleven o’clock, when the duchess arrived. De László noted: “by 1 ocl. I was very well advanced – did her this time in three quarter - & like the attitude better than the first – she got rather heavy in her face – lovable [sic] is her nature – beautiful her eyes – expression & has a very open mind.”^[1] During this short sitting, de László again^[2] had occasion to appreciate the qualities of his sitter: “We talked many confidential matters – if once on the throne she will be a great Queen - & her daughter has the same intelligence”.^[3] Early in the afternoon, de László and his wife Lucy attended the wedding of their niece, Jean Craig-Brown [3881], and at four, he resumed painting the Duchess. “By 6 ocl. I finished, absolutely exhausted from the concentration of the work - at 6 15 she came for a moment & had Tea with Lucy & me – then thanking for all hospitality she left – I had a delightful days work.”^[4] 

Indeed, the Duchess of York sent him a letter on 8 October informing him that the two portraits were to be reproduced by Tuck and, in de László’s cryptic words, “expressing a little change – of her hair.”^[5] The Duke and Duchess came to his studio on 10 October, at 2.30, and de László compared the first portrait he did of the Duchess with the hat [12183], to make sure the study-portrait was worthier of publication, and it is possible that he slightly altered the hair of the Duchess in the present portrait at that tia trme to please her. During that visit, she mentioned to de László how much the King and Queen appreciated her and her husband’s new portraits, which gave rise to the artist’s following reflection: “I hope the time will come when I will be able to paint them too – to add to my collection of Royal portraits – which will become History – of passed [past] days – views & tradition.”^[6] However, de László never painted George V and Queen Mary.

The colour postcards Tuck produced were extremely popular, and in December 1936, when George VI was crowned, the pair of portraits acquired iconic status when they were reproduced full page in The Illustrated London News.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [4460].

EXHIBITED:  

•Victoria Art Galleries, Dundee, Exhibition of recent Portraits and Studies by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., September 1932, no. 2

•M. Knoedler & Company, Inc., London, Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., Loan Exhibition held in aid of The Artists’ General Benevolent Institution, June - July 1933, no. 19

•Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Glasgow, Annual Exhibition, 1933, no. 238

LITERATURE:

•Dundee Advertiser, 15 June 1933

•Daily Telegraph, 21 June 1933

•DLA 1936 parcel, Képes Vasárnap, p.14, ill.

•Supplement to “The Illustrated London News,” 16 December 1936

•L’Illustration, n˚4894, 19 December 1936

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 358, 374

•Wheeler-Bennett, John W., King George VI: His Life and Reign, Macmillan & Co, London, 1958, ill. facing p. 154

•Warwick, Christopher, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth: A Portrait, London, 1985, ill. dust cover

•Cornforth, John, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at Clarence House, London, 1996, p. 27 ill, pl. 29, pp. 29 & 121

•Grever, Tonko and Annemieke Heuft (Sandra de Laszlo, British ed.), De László in Holland: Dutch Masterpieces by Philip Alexius de László (1869-1937), Paul Holberton Publishing, London, 2006, ill. p. 10

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, p. 78

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, private collection, 5 August entry, p. 221

•DLA162-0405, Pesti Hírlap, 24 June 1933, p. 7

•DLA037-0089, letter from Emma Földváry to de László, 6 November 1936

CC 2008