4341

Baron Emile Beaumont d’Erlanger 1933

Seated three-quarter length, slightly to the left and looking up to the right, wearing a dark suit and waistcoat with a blue bow-tie, holding a document in his right hand and his pince-nez in the left.

Oil on canvas, 133.4 x 92.1 cm (52 ½ x 36 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László / 1933   

Laib L17811 (531) / C8 (15) Baron d’Erlanger

NPG Album 1933, p. 31, where labelled: Baron Emile d'Erlanger

Sitters’ Book I, f. 30: Erlanger

Sitters’ Book II, f. 76: Emile d'Erlanger Nov 17th 33

Private Collection

According to contemporary correspondence this commission was suggested by William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne [6965], Vice-Chairman of the Forestal Land, Timber and Railways Company. Baron d’Erlanger was Chairman and the employees subscribed to present this portrait to him. Three copies were to be ordered from Sydney Kendrick, de László’s best copyist, one for the London office and two for associated companies in Buenos Aires and Pietermaritzburg. To date, only one copy by Kendrick, which used to hang in the London office, has been traced.^[1] It seems that the company’s subscribers originally commissioned de László to paint a full-length portrait, for which the honorarium would have been 1000 guineas.^[2] However, in a letter dated 6 November 1933, the Hon. Lewis Palmer (Lord Selborne’s son) suggested a head-and-shoulders portrait “to bring the honorarium within the 600-650 guineas mark.”^[3] De László replied that as Emile d’Erlanger was an old friend, he would probably paint the portrait in a larger size than he would usually have done for this reduced price and wanted to leave the choice of size and style to Baron Emile himself. He wished this special arrangement to remain confidential.^[4] The sittings for this portrait took place on 14, 15, 17, and 20 November 1933.

The artist depicts a momentary expression of surprise as Baron d’Erlanger puts aside the document he was reading, his attention being caught by something the viewer cannot see. This confers an impression of movement to the painting, but the pose is anchored by the intense and focused expression of the sitter. De László painted a number of portraits of the d’Erlanger family: the sitter’s younger brother, Rodolphe [4599] – on at least two occasions – together  with his wife and daughter-in-law, and most notably the sitter’s wife, Catherine [4352], on five occasions: three times in 1899, 1905 and again in 1913. He also made a fine portrait drawing of her in 1900 [4355].

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 181, 226

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 247

•László, Philip de, 1933 diary, private collection, 2 November entry, p. 4; 15 November entry, p. 16; 17 November entry, p. 18; 18 November entry, p. 19; 20 November entry, p. 20; 21 November entry, p. 21; 22 November entry, p. 22; 24 November entry, p. 23; 25 November entry, p. 23; 29 November entry, p. 26; 30 November entry, p. 27; 7 April entry, p. 147

•László, Philip de, January-June 1935 diary, private collection, 29 April entry, p. 103

•László, Lucy de, 1933 diary, private collection, 18 December entry, p. 353

•DLA067-082- DLA 067-0119

•DLA067-0117, letter from de László’s secretary to The Hon. Lewis Palmer, 3 November 1933

•DLA067-0114, letter from de László to Baron Emile d’Erlanger, 6 November 1933

•DLA067-0113, letter from de László to Palmer, 8 November 1933

•DLA135-0019, letter from de László to Marczell László, 25 November 1933

CC 2008