2703

Major Robert George Teesdale Baker-Carr 1916

Head and shoulders in profile to the left, three quarter face turned towards the viewer wearing uniform of a Staff Officer

Oil on board, 40 x 30.5cm (16 x 12 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower left: P.A. de László / 1916 I. 

Private Collection

Major Robert Baker-Carr met de László through their mutual friend, the 6th Duke of Portland [4442] and they both attended the wedding of his son William Arthur Cavendish-Bentinck [6821] and Ivy Gordon-Lennox [6825] in the chapel at Welbeck Abbey 12 August 1915 [11196]. The sitter wrote to the artist 11 September, “I have been intending to write to you since then but I was away at Langwell til the 22nd August and since then my friend who works with me at the War Office was away and so I had no chance of leaving my work there.”^[1] This was an extremely busy time for both artist and sitter and the portrait was not completed until early 1916. This may also account for the unusual composition, the sitter’s face almost fills the picture surface of this very intimate portrait, suggesting it has been painted at great speed.

Robert George Teesdale Baker-Carr was born 5 January 1867 in Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire, the eldest son of Reverend R.J. Baker-Carr of Abberton Hall, Pershore and his wife Rose Teesdale. He was educated at Charterhouse before attending the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and entered the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own) as a Second Lieutenant in April 1888. He became Captain in 1893 and was promoted to Major in 1905. He served as ADC to two Viceroys of India, Lord Elgin and Lord Curzon [3890], before retiring in 1906. He acted as a land agent to the 6th Duke of Portland [4442], who dedicated his book Fifty Years and more of Sport in Scotland to his memory, “my friend and companion on hill and river for 30 years.”  

The sitter never married and died 18 November 1931 at Welbeck Abbey, home of the Duke of Portland. There was a private service in the chapel there attended by the Duke and Duchess [4411], Lady Victoria Wemyss [6827] and the Marchioness of Titchfield [6823]. The Times published a message sent by King George V to the Duke: “The Queen and I are distressed to hear of the sudden death at Welbeck of your old friend Baker-Carr and I feel what a shock this has been to you all. You have our warmest sympathy. - George R.I.”^[2] 

PROVENANCE:

6th Duke of Portland;

Given to John de Laszlo, the artist’s youngest son;

By descent

LITERATURE:

•Richard W. Goulding, The Catalogue of Pictures. The Duke of Portland. Prepared by C. K. Adams, Cambridge University Press, 1936 (Private printing of 150 copies) no: 1010

•Portland, The Duke of, K.G., G.C.V.O., Fifty Years and more of Sport in Scotland, London, 1933, ill. facing p. 64

•Portland, William Cavendish-Bentinck (6th Duke) Men, Women and Things, Memories of the Duke of Portland, K.G., G.C.V.O., London, 1937, p. 221

•DLA054-0114, letter from Major Baker-Carr to de László, 15 September 1915  

KF 2017