110810

UNTRACED

Gyula Wlassics 1901

Head and shoulders to to left, in three-quarter profile and looking to the viewer, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and light coloured tie

Oil [support and dimensions unknown]

Sitters’ Book: I, f. 16: Wlassics Gyula

By the turn of the 20th century de László had reached the pinnacle of his career in Hungary. He had painted leading figures of the government and many prominent members of the aristocracy. He sought recognition from the country of his birth for his achievements after painting Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and King of Hungary in 1899 [12700]. He wrote to Elek Lippich [112171], his mentor and head of the Arts Department at the Ministry of Education: “Please, please find out what will happen about the decoration. Perhaps it would be appropriate for you to mention to Wlassics that the decoration could be awarded to me on the birthday of His Majesty.”^[1] De László was eventually awarded the Order of the Iron Crown after painting a second portrait of Franz Joseph in 1903 [10664], and then ennobled by the Emperor through an Act of Parliament in 1912.

The present picture may have been a thank-you from de László to Wlassics for efforts made on his behalf to secure a decoration from the Emperor. It is thought to have been copied in 1901 for the Institute of the Deaf and Dumb in Vác and this may be the picture Wlassics is referring to in his letter to de László in March 1901 to arrange his sittings: “I don’t know whether it is necessary to have two pictures? We can discuss this.”^[2] A rejected version remained in de László’s studio until his death and a portrait drawing [4866] was in the possession of the artist’s close friend Doctor Gábor de Térey [11881], Chief Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, who had attended his wedding to Lucy Guinness [11474] in Ireland in 1900.

Gyula Wlassics de Zalánkemén was born 17 March 1852, in Zalaegerszeg, western Hungary, the son of Antal Wlassics, a judge, and his wife, née Mária Berzseny. The family were originally of Croatian origin. He studied law in Budapest and Vienna and from 1877 he worked in the Ministry of Justice. Between 1890 and 1895 he was a Professor of Law at the University of Budapest. In January 1895 he was appointed Minister of Education and remained in this post for more than eight years, until 1903. It was during his tenure that the Szépművészeti Múzeum [The Museum of Fine Arts] was founded in 1896 and built between 1900 and 1906.

In June 1917 Wlassics was created a Baron by King Charles IV and the following year he became President of the House of Magnates. In November 1918 he led a delegation of aristocrats to King Charles IV to try and persuade him to resign from the Hungarian Throne. He was President of the Upper House of Parliament from 1927 to 1935. From 1923 he was a member of the International Court at the Hague. He was awarded the Order of the Iron Crown, the Order of Leopold, and in 1930 he was one of the first five recipients of the Corvinus Chain, the highest decoration for distinction in the Arts, Letters and Science.

The sitter’s career shows that he was an eminent lawyer but had little interest in the arts, which were part of his government portfolio. Soon after he lost his ministerial post with the fall of the Khuen-Héderváry [111984] government in 1903, de Térey wrote to de László: “The (second) event is the departure of Wlassics who is now in Italy licking his wounds. No one will shed tears for him, least of all my humble self. During the seven full years that I have been here he has done nothing for me, I am still in the same position! … Wlassics’s total effort consisted of hanging frantically onto his chair.”^[3] The sitter’s successor as Minister of Education was Albert Berzeviczy [110804] who was much more congenial to the artistic community.

Wlassics married Etelka Csengery (1864-1945) and they had three children: Tibor (born 1883), Gyula (born 1884) served as Deputy Under-secretary in the Ministry of Education from 1925, and Margit (born 1886). De László met him at a dinner given by Madame de Scitovszky [4862] in 1935 and was not impressed: “Young Wlassics was there - a most banal fellow - with little knowledge of art - who is the son of the great Minister Wlassics!”^[4] After his death in 1962, the Barony of Wlassics became extinct.

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the sitter in 1907

EXHIBITED:

•Nemzeti Szalon, Budapest, László Fülöp műveinek gyűjteményes kiállítása [Exhibition of Works by László Fülöp], April 1907, no. 58

•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Hungarian Fine Art Society, Tavaszi kiállítás és László Fülöp, Munkácsy Mihály, Pentelei Molnár János, valamit Petz Samu és Hűvös László összegyűjtött műveinek kiállítása [Spring Exhibition and Retrospectives of Philip de László, Mihály Munkácsy, János Pentelei Molnár, Samu Petz and László Hűvös], 4 May - 30 June 1925, no. 34

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, Hodder and Stoughton, London 1939, pp. 176, 272.

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, p. 25

•DLA150-0082, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, 9 August 1899

•DLA031-0023, letter from Gyula Wlassics to de Lászlό, 25 March 1901

•DLA029-0124, letter from Elek Lippich to de László, 12 October 1901

•DLA066-0101 and DLA066-0102, letter from Gábor de Térey to de László, 10 November 1903

•NSzL149-0010, letter from de László to Lajos Ernst, 21 March 1907                                                                                                                                •DLA149-0012, letter from de László to Lajos Ernst, 2 April 1907

•DLA162-0102, Pesti Hírlap, 7 April 1907, p. 7

•DLA140-0176, Dr. Erdey, Aladár, “László Fülöp festményeinek gyűjteményes kiállítása” [Exhibition of Paintings by Philip de László], Vasárnapi Újság, Issue 15, 14 April 1907, Budapest, ill., p. 292

•DLA022-0127, letter from István Bárczy de Bárcziháza to de László, 25 June 1935

•László, Philip de, January to June 1935 diary, private collection, 14 March entry

BS & Pd’O  2019