4272

Study portrait

Countess of Cromer, née Lady Ruby Elliott 1925

Seated full-length slightly to the left on a green upholstered armchair wearing a patterned shawl about her shoulders, a pink silk dress and a long string of pearls interspersed with green jade, her left arm resting on the back of the chair, her hands loosely clasped

Oil on board, 105.4 x 73.7 cm (41 ½ x 29 in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1925 [black ink]

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 45: Ruby Cromer July 17th 1925

Private Collection

This study portrait was painted at the request of the artist, only two months after he completed the half-length portrait of Lady Cromer [4270], commissioned by her husband, 2nd Earl Cromer who was painted in 1927 [4263]. De László   also painted their two daughters, Lady Rosemary Baring [6762] in 1925 and Lady Violet Vernon [8244] in 1937. In 1933 he painted Esmée Harmsworth (as a child) [4776], who was later to become their daughter-in-law.

It seems de László was particularly struck by the present sitter, and he asked her even before starting on the commission whether she would be kind enough to grant him a few more sittings so that he could make studies of her.^[1] By the time her formal portrait was almost completed, de László had a clearer idea of the work he wished to paint for his own pleasure: “I am glad to know you will kindly give me the opportunity to continue a few more sittings – and let me do a study of your full figure – dressed as similar – while painting your portrait which reminded me so much of the graceful ‘Tanagra’ statuettes”.^[2]

The Tanagra statuettes were mass-produced from the late 4th century B.C. in the Boeotian town of that name in Greece. The mould-cast terracotta figurines were coated with a white slip before firing, and were usually later painted in watercolours. Full-length, and characterised by soft colouring and delicate drapery, it seems they gave de László inspiration for this present study. Lady Cromer is depicted full-length, sporting a bohemian pink coral dress which subtly highlights the contours of her body, and confers greater movement to her pose. Even though the artist originally said he would paint Lady Cromer in a similar dress as in her commissioned portrait, he eventually adopted a lighter, yet bolder, and more contrasted colour scheme, closer to the soft colours of the Tanagra statuettes.

It must also be stressed not only that this study portrait is unusual in style, but that full-length works of such relatively small size are extremely rare in de László’s oeuvre. Even though he painted it for his own pleasure, the artist presented it to Lady Cromer in 1925.    

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [4270].

LITERATURE:         

•Letter from Philip de László to Countess Minto, 3 June 1925, in the possession of a descendant of the sitter    

•DLA117-0113, letter from de László to Lady Cromer, 12 June 1925

•DLA121-0007, letter from de László to Lady Cromer, 4 September 1925

CC 2008