2681

Godfrey and Diana Ralli 1922

Seated three-quarter length, Diana on the left holding a Pekingese dog, wearing a white off-the-shoulder organza dress with a wide blue sash, her hand resting on her brother’s knee, he, wearing a white open-necked shirt and short grey trousers, holding her left hand in his

Oil on canvas, 101.6 x 81.3 cm (40 x 32 in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1922.Oct.

Laib L10890 (529) / C22 (25)  

NPG 1921-23 Album, p. 14

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 31: Godfrey. / DIANA. / [in another hand: Oct 18th 1922.]

Private Collection

Sir Eustratio and Lady Ralli, the parents of the two young sitters, approached de László about this double portrait before the artist’s trip to the United States in April 1921.^[1] However, even though Sir Eustratio reminded the artist about this commission on 5 January 1922, sittings were not arranged before October of the same year.^[2]  These might have been postponed to a later date had not Lady Ralli pressed de László to paint her children’s portrait, stressing the urgency of the mission: “Godfrey may at any moment lose his top front teeth.”^[3]        

Despite the angelic looks of the two children in the resulting portrait, sittings proved to be quite an ordeal for de László, who had to resort to tying Diana – a real tomboy – to one of the columns in his studio with the wide blue sash of her dress. He originally thought that she might want to hold a doll during the sittings, but she categorically refused and insisted on holding the family Pekinese dog, ‘Diggy’ instead. However, de László’s biggest mistake was to compliment the little girl on her beautiful hair, which led her to implement her brother’s idea that she should cut it. After this sitting, she enthusiastically hacked away at her hair under her bonnet. It was then that de László, extremely put out, tied her to a pillar to prevent any further mischief, and had to paint her hair from memory.

In 1999, Godfrey Ralli recalled: “de László let me watch while he painted the dog’s face. It was an experience I shall never forget. With very few strokes he had the outline of the dog’s head. In perhaps a quarter of an hour he had the dog’s expression exactly and I knew that dog very well. It was uncanny to watch. As a child, little did I realise that I was watching a master at work. It was so quick and quite brilliant.”

Two preparatory drawings for this portrait, on one sheet, remain in the collection of a descendant of the artist [2683].  De László also painted a portrait of their mother, Mrs. Ralli in 1923 [2310], and a cousin, Mrs. Ambrose Ralli, née Marietta Ralli, in 1921 [2676].        

Godfrey Victor Ralli was born on 9 September 1915, the eldest son of Sir Eustratio Lucas Ralli, 2nd Baronet^[4] (1876-1964) and his wife Louise Warrington Williams (1890-1982). The Ralli family spent their time between their London home at 40 Upper Brook Street and Woodlands Park in Surrey. Their country home allowed Mr. Ralli to enjoy one of his favourite pastimes: shooting, and for the children to enjoy theirs: horses. Godfrey Ralli served as a Captain in the Royal Artillery in the Second World War. After he left the army he followed a successful career in the City (of London), retiring to Kent where he enjoyed playing golf and gardening. He succeeded his father as 3rd Baronet Ralli in 1964 and died in 2010.

Diana, ‘Didie’, Myrtle Ralli, born in London on 13 February, 1918, was educated by a governess until the age of twelve and then went to North Foreland Lodge School. Her father disapproved of ‘blue stocking women’, and Diana never let him down. She excelled at sport and made many friends. Many school holidays were spent in Scotland, where Diana fished and shot her first stag by the age of twelve, with a rifle her father had used during the Boer War. She also enjoyed hunting, point-to-pointing and skiing. On 10 October, 1939 she married Lt. Col. John Herbert Walford, D.S.O. (born 1900), an officer in the Seaforth Highlanders and master of the local hunt.  During the Second World War she took over as Master of the hunt, thus ensuring its survival. After the war they became farmers in Hampshire; Diana helped on the farm, while raising their three children. They later retired to Bibury in Gloucestershire, two years before her husband’s death in 1976. She died on 8 June 2001.

EXHIBITED:        

•Christie’s, King Street, London, A Brush with Grandeur, 6-22 January 2004, no. 91

LITERATURE:        

•De Laszlo, Sandra, ed., & Christopher Wentworth-Stanley, asst. ed., A Brush with Grandeur, Paul Holberton publishing, London 2004, p. 156, ill.

•DLA153-0694, letter from Sir Eustratio Ralli to de László, 11 January 1921

•DLA082-0059, letter from Sir Eustratio Ralli to de László, 5 January 1922

•DLA082-0050, letter from Lady Ralli to de László, 5 August 1922

•DLA082-0054, letter from Lady Ralli to de László, 20 September 1922

•DLA082-0056, letter from Lady Ralli to de László, 26 October 1922

CWS & CC 2010