4514

Baronne Emile d’Erlanger, née Catherine de Robert d’Aqueria de Rochegude 1905

Head and shoulders in a painted oval, almost full-face to the left turned and looking over her left shoulder, white chiffon draped around her bare shoulders and wearing pearl earrings, her left hand raised to her right shoulder, all against a dark background

Oil on board, 76 x 51 cm (30 ½ x 20 in.) oval

Inscribed lower right: László F.E. / 1905 / Buxby^[1] 

Sitters Book I, f. 30: Emil B d’Erlanger/ Rochegude [among signatures dated 1899]

Private Collection

This is the fifth known oil portrait de László painted of Catherine d’Erlanger, three of the other four having been made in 1899, including a full-length one [4352] and the fourth in 1913 [4594]. The present portrait is in a painted oval, although in a rectangular frame. It is worth noticing that de László particularly favoured this format to depict the Baroness. The use of the oval is rare in his oeuvre but the shape particularly suited this sitter as it draws attention to her round shoulders and graceful neck. The off-the-shoulder diaphanous dress that she wears in the two oval portraits dated 1899 [4596] & [110925] further emphasizes this effect.

Oakley Williams wrote at length about the present portrait: “The portrait, painted in 1905, shows his sitter turning full face over a gleaming shoulder in an almost black, oval setting. Its depth gives full value to the sheen of the blond gold hair and to the milk and roses of the skin. The expression is triumphant, almost provocative, and its challenge of glowing beauty. When this portrait was first placed on view at the International Exhibition of 1907 at Venice, the broad, masterful modeling of the head and neck, and the bold and confident emphasis of light and shade, challenged the attention of critics. The exhibition at Venice, where, with the portraits of Mrs. de László [6765] and Baroness Emile Erlanger [sic], he won the gold medal, was, in fact, in many respects a milestone in László’s career. For this portrait is one of the first of his daring studies in which the supreme confidence of his later manner is revealed. The ease and sureness of his craftsmanship, his unerring gift for recording the distinctive quality of a personality in a few sweeping strokes of the brush, the vigour and vitality of the whole composition had perhaps never been more brilliantly and confidently displayed. It displays the assurance of proven craftsmanship.”^[2]

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [4352].

EXHIBITED:          

•Biennale d’Arte di Venezia, Venice, 1907, no. 20

•The Fine Art Society, London, Portrait Paintings and Drawings by Philip A. László, End of May and June 1907, no. 2

•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Winter Exhibition, 1925

•Murakami Gallery, New York, Hungarian Masters - A Reassessment The Last 120 Years, 27 August-7 September 1995, no. 2

LITERATURE:        

•Montesquiou-Fezansac, Robert (de), “L’Art et Les Artistes, Un Portraitiste Lyrique, Philip Laszlo” in Revue d’art des deux Mondes, issue 15, 15 June 1906, II, p. 98, ill.

•Schleinitz, Otto (von), Künstler Monographien, no. 106, Ph A. von László, Bielefeld

and Leipzig (Velhagen & Klasing), 1913 ill. pl. 69, p. 81

•Williams, Oakley, ed., Selections from the Work of P.A. de László, forward by comte Robert de Montesquiou, Hutchinson, London, 1921, pp. 201-2

• Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 181

•Field, Katherine ed., Transcribed by Susan de Laszlo, The Diaries of Lucy de László Volume I: (1890-1913), de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 85

•László, Lucy de, 1902-1911 diary, 23 December 1905 entry, p. 87

•DLA066-0093 letter from Gábor de Térey to de László, [1907]

CC 2008