2065

Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Sheffield, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley and 3rd Baron Eddisbury 1919

Head and shoulders to the right looking to the viewer, wearing a brown jacket and waistcoat, wing collar and dark tie

Oil on canvas, 59.7 x 49.6 cm (23 ½ x 19 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László / 1919. XII Alderley

Sitters’ Book II, f. 12: Sheffield. Alderley Dec 4 -7. 1919.

According to an inscription in Lady Sheffield’s hand on a label on the verso of the canvas, this painting was given to the sitter as a gift in gratitude for the friendship and support Lord Sheffield gave de László during the days of his arrest, internment and exoneration between 1917 and 1919: “Edward Lyulph, Lord Sheffield / painted by Philip de László / and given by him in affectionate memory / of the sitter's friendship and support during / the persecution endured by the painter / when he was interned during the great War. / This picture is a replica of one painted by the artist for himself, along with those of / other friends, Lord Lee of Fareham, Mr. Austen / Chamberlain and the Earl of Selborne who / also comforted him in those sad days.” Lord Sheffield^[1] had commissioned de László to make a sketch of his wife in her Red Cross uniform [2767], which the artist painted in December 1919 at the Sheffields’ residence, Alderley Park, near Macclesfield. It was on that occasion that he also painted the present portrait.

Lord Sheffield had been particularly supportive of the artist after his arrest in 1917, travelling especially from Cheshire to give evidence in his favour to the Advisory Committee. The artist painted an exact copy of the portrait to keep as a memento, which remains in the collection of a descendant of the artist [2763]. Although de László often kept rejected or alternative versions of portraits of his sitters, an exact copy is a rare occurrence in his oeuvre and bears testimony to the bond between the artist and his sitter.

De László had previously painted the sitter in 1904 and submitted the portrait to be exhibited at the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1905. It was rejected, to his complete disbelief [12808].  

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [12808].

PROVENANCE:         

Presented to Lord Stanley by the artist

LITERATURE:

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 89

•DLA048-0037, letter from Lord Stanley to de László, 14 December 1919

CC 2008