111738

Genre picture

A Courting Couple in a Rural Landscape 1893

A young man standing with his right arm round a young woman in a meadow, both wearing traditional dress: he is wearing a brimmed hat, wide legged trousers, white shirt and a dark vest, on his shoulders a shepherds’ cloak (szűr), she wearing a pink skirt and a blue-grey apron and pink and blue-grey scarf tied round her shoulders and body, carrying a basket and a washing beetle, he a scythe over his left shoulder; a white house in the background, and behind the couple nearer the house, another man carrying a scythe

Oil on canvas, 73 x 97 cm (28 ¾  x 38 ⅜ in.)

Inscribed lower left: László F. 1893. Sárszög

Private Collection

De László completed his studies at the Munich Academy in early 1893. He returned to Hungary and during the summer he visited Sárszög, a small settlement almost surrounded by a stagnant loop of the river Tisza.^[1] The artist had a previous connection with this area having visited in 1892 to paint members of the Sváb family [112588] who were landowners in the district.

The artist's choice of subjects for his genre paintings at this time may have been influenced by his romantic attachment to Lucy Guinness, his future wife. He met her in Munich in February 1892, but her parents forbade the match and stopped all further communication between them. In 1892 he painted the genre picture Spurned Love [10718], which no doubt reflected his feelings. By the summer of 1893, his spirits seem to have lifted and the present painting is one of three optimistic romantic works made at that time, the other two being The Serious Question [9877] and A Rustic Couple Walking in a Landscape [9004].

Four preparatory drawings for the present painting have been recorded: [9007] [113441] [111745] & [111775]. The latter two are well developed and set in a pencilled frame by the artist.

The artist's genre paintings were much influenced by Jules Bastien-Lepage^[2] and the present work evokes a painting of a similar subject by the French artist known as Rural Love, painted in 1882.

For notes on de László's early genre pictures and the influence of Bastien-Lepage see [6058].

PROVENANCE:  

Sold at Bizományi Áruház Vállalat (Consignment Store Company), Budapest, Auction 68, 1985, lot 103

LITERATURE:

•München magyarul. Magyar művészek Münchenben 1850-1914 (Munich in Hungarian. Hungarian Artists in Munich 1850-1914), Budapest, 2009, p. 265 ill.

EXHIBITED:  

•Nemzeti Szalon (National Salon), Budapest, 1907, no. 30

•Magyar Nemzeti Galéria (Hungarian National Gallery), Budapest, München magyarul. Magyar művészek Münchenben 1850-1914 (Munich in Hungarian, Hungarian Artists in Munich 1850-1914), 1 October 2009 – 10 January 2010, no. 180

BS 2014