3346

Wilhelmine Preetorius 1896

Head and shoulders in three-quarter profile to the left, wearing a green tyrolean hat with a feather, and a green coat or dress with an upturned collar and pearl stud earrings

Oil on canvas, 53 x 43 cm (20 ¼ x 16 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: László F / 96: / Mainz 

Private Collection

De László painted ‘Elma’ three times when he first visited the Preetorius family in Mainz in 1896, see also [111274] & [12564].

One can safely assume that her three-quarter length seated portrait [111274] was Wilhelm Preetorius’s original commission, together with a portrait of her sister Friedel, also seated, and similar in composition. During his three-week stay in Mainz, de László became a family friend, and it is likely that he gave the present study-portrait to the Preetoriuses to mark this successful visit.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [12564].

PROVENANCE:

Dorotheum, Vienna, Sale of 19-27 March 1985, lot 171

LITERATURE

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 47

AG 2008