110534

Portrait drawing

The Infante don Jaime de Borbón y Battenberg 1927

Head only, in profile to the left

Graphite with white chalk highlights on paper, 49.5 x 34.3 cm (19 ½ x 13 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László / Madrid 1927. III.

Inscribed lower right: Jaime [in the sitter’s hand]

Sitters’ Book II, f. 53: Jaime / 21- III-1927 Palacio Real-Madrid.

Studio Inventory, p. 136 (3): The Infante Jaime of Spain

Private Collection

This portrait drawing was executed while de László was painting the portraits of the Spanish royal family in 1927. It was possibly a preparatory drawing so the artist could study the features of the young man in preparation for the portrait in oil [12015], or made as a keepsake to mark this extraordinary series of commissions from the Spanish royal family. There exists a drawing of don Jaime’s brother don Gonzalo [111092] in the same pose and format, which, like this work, remained in the artist’s possession until his death.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [10852]

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

John de Laszlo;

Philip Richard de Laszlo;

Private Collection

EXHIBITED:

•The French Gallery, London, A Series of Portraits and Studies by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., June 1927, no. 38

•Royal Institute Galleries, The Society of Graphic Art, Fifteenth Exhibition, July 1935, no. 434

LITERATURE:

•László, Lucy de, 1927 diary, private collection, 22 March, p. 101

•László, Philip de, June-November 1935 diary, private collection, 8 July 1935 entry, p. 37

SMdeL 2011