11930

Madame Sándor Grünbaum, later Galambos,^[1] née Laura Engelsmann 1889

Half-length slightly to the left, her head turned and looking to the viewer, wearing a high-collared white dress with two green stripes running down the front, a brooch at her neck, a fur stole draped round her arms, in white gloves and holding a fan in her right hand; her hair is tied in a low chignon and has a fringe in front.

Oil on canvas, 75 x 48 ½ cm (29 ½ x 19 in.)

Signed and dated lower right: Laub^[2] / 89

Magyar Külkereskedelmi Bank (Hungarian Bank of Foreign Trade), Budapest

De László had a long-lasting friendship with Dr Pál Grünbaum [11463] a lawyer and landowner of Ó-Becse, who was the brother-in-law of the present sitter. The artist spent three consecutive summers there in 1889-1891. This was a formative experience for him and one which he recalled with pleasure throughout his life. For notes on Ó-Becse, de László's experiences there, and his relationship with Dr Grünbaum and his family, see [11463].  

The portrait of Madame Sándor Grünbaum is one of de László's earliest commissioned portraits, painted on his first visit to Ó-Becse during the summer of 1889.^[3] In contrast to most of his portraits dating from his visits to Ó-Becse it is painted with a lively palette on a light coloured background.  She is depicted as a proud and self-assured young woman, elegantly dressed in a high-necked tightly fitted bodice with slim sleeves reflecting the style of the ‘second bustle’ era. Her fashionable accessories, the brooch at her neck and the luxurious fur stole are rendered with meticulous attention to detail. The portrait demonstrates that from the very beginning of his career de László was able both to capture his sitters’ character and to reflect their social position.

An infra-red photograph of the present portrait reveals that Laura Grünbaum’s features were drawn in pencil on the canvas beforehand. De László abandoned that technique during the next decade, to paint alla prima, “drawing with his brush.”

Laura Engelsmann was born in 1865, one of the eight children of József Engelsmann, a well-to-do merchant from Ó-Becse, and his wife Fany Hirschenhauser. On 31 October 1882 she married Sándor Grünbaum, an older brother of de László's friend and patron, Dr Pál Grünbaum.  Sándor was a wealthy entrepreneur with a profitable farm and vineyard. He was also on the board of directors at the local bank in Ó-Becse and a member of the County Assembly.   He died on 9 February 1916. Laura herself was a competent woman, who during her widowhood continued to keep the farm going, selling wine produced by her vineyard, and honey. The date of her death is not known.  

The couple had a daughter, Margit, born in 1885. She was a minor poet and writer who lived in Szeged. Some of her verses were published in national magazines.

PROVENANCE:

Dr Talpay, lawyer, Szeged, Hungary, 1961

LITERATURE:
•Schleinitz, Otto von, Künstler Monographien No. 106, Ph. A. von László, Verlag von Velhaven & Klasing, Bielefeld und Leipzig, 1913, p. 4

•De Laszlo, Sandra, ed., & Christopher Wentworth-Stanley, asst. ed., A Brush with Grandeur, Paul Holberton publishing, London, 2004, ill. p. 12

•Corbeau-Parsons, Caroline, Philip de László, Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2010, ill., inside front cover

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 14

•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. 12, ill.

•Field, Katherine, with essays by Sandra de Laszlo and Richard Ormond, Philip de László: Master of Elegance, Blackmore, 2024, p. 41

Pd’O & BS 2008