111737

János Bókay 1897

Head and shoulders looking full face to the viewer, wearing a titian-red velvet dress with large white collar and a gold brooch set with a large emerald, a thin gold chain around his neck, all against a grey-blue flock wallpaper

Oil on canvas, 77 x 63 cm (30 ⅓ x 24 ⅞ in.)

Inscribed lower right: László F / 1897

Inscribed upper left: JANCSI^[1] [olive green oil]

Private Collection

The sitter, as a journalist writing in Színházi Magazin (Theatre Magazine) in 1941, recalled his painful memories of the sittings: “At the age of three [sic]^[2] I was painted by Philip de László. Even now, this picture still adorns de László’s catalogues. I have sad memories about this picture. Philip de László wanted to depict my sorrowful expression. He tortured me to achieve this. He dressed me in velvet, but the velvet was not lined. True, on these occasions he always gave me two cakes from Gerbeaud^[3] as a painkiller. At that time I really hated Philip de László. Now I like him a lot.”^[4]

In the mid-1890s the artist tended to use decorative wall-coverings as a backdrop in his young sitters’ portraits.^[5] In a letter to his friend Lippich,^[6] he expressed his enthusiasm for a material with an English tulip pattern, which he bought with Countess Mailáth, presumably for one of the Mailáth portrait commissions.^[7] However, for the portrait of the Countess’s two daughters [13008] , he used a contemporary bright coloured wallpaper background to compliment the light colours in the girls’ dresses  and it seems that de László used the tulip material for the present portrait. The grey-blue reflects the colour of the boy’s eyes, and his velvet dress the colour of his hair. It is an early example in de László’s oeuvre of portraits of children in historical costume.^[8] In later life he painted numerous portraits of his own five sons, using his considerable wardrobe of costumes to romanticise the paintings. He often used 17th century Spanish costume, reflecting his admiration for Velázquez.^[9]

The Bókay family originates from Upper Hungary.^[10] Their original surname was Bock. Mór Jókai, the famous novelist, persuaded the sitter’s grandfather in 1861 to Hungarianise his name to Bókai, which was later changed to Bókay. János Bókay was born on 10 July 1892 in Budapest, son of Professor János Bókay (1858-1937), an eminent paediatrician, and Adrienne Mária Tömöry-Schopper (1870-1952), daughter of György Tömöry, a banker and financier. Jancsi’s father lived only for his profession, and as a result his parents divorced when he was four years old.^[11] He was brought up by his mother and her second husband, Kornél Ábrányi (1849-1913), a journalist, writer and member of parliament. János studied at the universities of Budapest and Oxford. Although he had a law degree, he earned his living as a writer and translator. From 1929 he was in charge of the Prime Minister’s Press Office. Four years later he became Editor-in-Chief of Budapesti Hírlap. Between 1933 and 1944 he was the Managing Director of Révai Brothers, an important publishing company. During the 1930s and early 1940s he became a popular playwright. He died in Budapest on 16 July 1961.

PROVENANCE:

Sold at Kieselbach Galéria és Aukciósház, Budapest, 19 December 2008, lot 163;

Sold at Nagyházi Galéria és Aukciósház, Budapest, 10 December 2013, lot 153

EXHIBITED                                                                                                                                                            

Országos Magyar Képzőművészeti Társulat [Hungarian Fine Art Society], Téli kiállítás [Winter Exhibition], Budapest 1897, no. 47

LITERATURE:

•Színházi Magazin [Theatre Magazine], 1941, issue 19, pp. 13-15, ill.

•NSzL150-0032, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, 4 September 1896

•DLA140-0042, Vasárnapi Lapok, Budapest, 12 December 1897, p. 668, ill.

•DLA002-0019, letter from Professor János Bókay to de László, 15 December 1897

•DLA091-0007, Silberstein, Dr. Adolf, “Winter exhibition at the Künstlerhaus”, Pester Lloyd, 1897^[12] 
•DLA091-0274, press cutting, Magyar Újság, 1897^[13]

BS 2013