6979

Baroness Helene Dorothée von Schröder 1915

Study portrait, head and shoulders to the left, in three-quarter profile, with the hint of a blue gown off her shoulders

Oil on board, 79 x 56 cm (31 x 22 in.)

Inscribed lower right: P.A. de László / 1915.III.14

Sitters’ Book I, f. 100:  Dorothee von Schröder / 14.3.15

Laib L7948 (259) / C28 (24): Baroness Welnisky or Schröder
Laib L7693 (686) / C29 (5): Unidentified woman

Private Collection

De László had already painted Dorothée in a double portrait with her younger sister Marga in 1908 [6984]. He had also made portraits of her mother in 1909 [6942] and her father in 1911 [6945].

In a letter^[1] dated 9 March 1915 Dorothée’s mother, Baroness Emma von Schröder, asks de László whether, in the event of one of his sitters dropping out, he could make a portrait of Dorothée as a birthday present for her husband later that week. Remarkably she, her husband and Dorothée all shared the same birthday: 14 March. The date inscribed by de László on the portrait would seem to be confirmed by the date beside Dorothée’s signature in the artist’s sitter’s book, so it would appear de László indeed found time to make the sketch on the birthday itself. On 24 March Emma wrote ecstatically to de László to thank him for carrying out her request to paint Dorothée so promptly: “My husband and I are delighted and never have I been thanked so often for a birthday present as in this case.” She continued, however, “For sure she has been a little beautified;^[2] I must always bear that in mind so that I don’t become too vain a mother!”^[3]

Helene Dorothée Eveline Emma Schröder was born in London on 14 March 1897, the second child of Bruno and Emma Schröder. On 6 November 1923 she married in Hamburg her second cousin, Baron Henry von Schröder^[4] (1885-1955), on which occasion de László painted a third portrait of her [6982]. A son, John Henry Bruno, was born the following year. Dorothée and Henry divorced in 1950 and she returned to Dell Park where she died on 6 April 1986.

De László painted Henry Schröder in 1932 [7049].

EXHIBITION:

•Grosvenor Gallery, London, Fifth Annual Exhibition of the National Portrait Society, February-March 1916, no. 147

LITERATURE:          

•DLA066-0130, letter from Emma von Schröder to de László, 9 March 1915

•DLA066-0134, letter from Emma von Schröder to de László, 24 March 1915

CWS 2008