6040

Madame Henri Letellier, née Marthe Fourton 1915 

Head and shoulders, full face to the viewer, a pale chiffon stole round her shoulders, wearing a single strand pearl necklace held between the fingers of her left hand and raised to her cheek

Oil [support and dimensions unknown]

Inscribed lower right: P.A. de László / March 1915

Laib L7689 (686) / C15 (19)

NPG Album 1915-16, f. 11: Marthe Letellier from Paris / 1915 / I gave this portrait for the Red Cross Sale / at Christies 1915 / bought by Lockett Agnew

Sitters’ Book I, f. 101: Marthe F Letellier March 27th 15

Private Collection

De László donated this portrait to the British Red Cross for their auction at Christie’s on 15 May 1915 to raise funds for the war effort. Madame Letellier sat for the artist at the end of March and his wife Lucy recorded seeing it in his studio on 30 March in her diary.^[1] It was purchased by the art dealer Lockett Agnew [2560] for £800.^[2] A rejected version [112440] and a preparatory drawing [111691] for the present portrait remained in the artist’s studio on his death.  

De László first painted the sitter in 1912 [110646] and her sister, the Countess di San Martino in 1913 [110567]. The present portrait was described in the artist’s Studio Inventory as having been exhibited at the Paris Salon, but de László did not exhibit there between 1912 and 1925.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [110646].

PROVENANCE:

Donated by the artist to the British Red Cross Sale, Christie’s, 12-27 April 1915; Bought by Lockett Agnew;

Sold on behalf of the Executors of Mrs. W. L. Agnew, at Agnew’s, Sept. 1922;

Purchased by E. Ambatielos;

Private Collection

EXHIBITED:

•M. Knoedler & Co., New York, Paintings by Philip A. de László, 4-16 April 1921, no. 13

LITERATURE:

•Modern Painting II: The Work of P.A. de Laszlo, M.V.O., The Studio Limited, London, 1921, ill.

•Town & Country, 10 April 1921, New York, Paris London: The Stuyvesant Company, 1921, p. 37, ill.

•The Sketch Supplement, 28 April 1915, p. 5

•“Paintings and Blank Canvases of Noted Artists Aid Red Cross; Two Sisters Rank as Beauties of Italy and France,” The Washington Post, 17 May 1915, ill.

•Field, Katherine, with essays by Sandra de Laszlo and Richard Ormond, Philip de László: Master of Elegance, Blackmore, 2024, p. 84

•László, Lucy de, 1915 diary, private collection

KF 2023