111787  

UNTRACED

History painting

L’Incroyable, also known as 1793 1892

A male figure seated full-length on a plain wooden chair leaning against a table, wearing a redingote with a wide collar, large cravat and calf-length boots, his left leg crossed over his right, his right hand holding his left calf, his left arm resting on the table, holding a document in his clenched fist, an absinthe sign in the background, top left

Oil on canvas, [dimensions unknown]

Indistinctly inscribed lower left: László / München 92

In 1891, on his return from Paris to the Munich Academy, de László was inspired by Carlyle's French Revolution to paint a picture of an ‘Incroyable’, an example of the counter-revolutionary type that appeared after the fall of Robespierre. Translating as “Incredible”, the epithet certainly suited the eccentricity of the Incroyables’ style, although originally named thus because of their unusual elocution: they refused to pronounce the letter “r”, as it was the initial of ‘Revolution,’ and they therefore exclaimed, whenever surprised: “Ma pa’ole d’honneu!’ C’est inc’oyable!”^[1] Emblematic of the Directoire (1795-1799), the extravagance and superficiality of the Incroyables was a reaction against the austerity imposed by Robespierre until July 1794. In this respect, the alternative title 1793 given to the present work is anachronistic, but it is possible that de László rather wanted to focus on the spirit of the Terror, on the eve of its centenary.

Compared with the style of some Incroyables, the outfit worn by the artist’s subject is in fact relatively restrained, and his brooding expression quite uncharacteristic of their hedonism, which perhaps makes 1793 a more apt title. Even more so as there are strong resonances between de László’s Incroyable and the figure of the condemned man in The Condemned Cell by de László’s early mentor, Munkácsy,^[2] which highlights the consequences of the failure of another Revolution, that of 1848 in Hungary.

The artist having been provided with a period costume, a green silk coat and cream breeches by the Munich Academy, de László’s landlady found the model he was looking for. Having seen a group from the Hoftheater sitting outside on the pavement between rehearsals, she encouraged de László to ask one of them to sit for him. He describes in his memoirs that among the actors, he spotted the very man he wanted: “He was a member of the chorus…tall and thin, with a Celtic-looking face and deep-set eyes. He corresponded exactly to my idea of L’Incroyable…Next morning he came to my studio and proved an excellent model…but in spite of his meagre salary he would not accept any payment from me…We became friends, and I gave him a sketch I made of him,^[3] and bought a watch-and-chain for his son. I remember that, among many subjects, we talked of love, about which we had a great dispute…His excitement in the heat of the discussion gave his face just the expression I wanted for ‘L’Incroyable,’ and I painted it while we argued.”^[4]

Although the composition of the present work was evidently carefully thought out, according to Rutter, Liezen-Mayer [4787], de László’s tutor, disapproved of his desire to paint a spontaneous composition and to imbue his painting with romanticism and realism by using a model with the face of “a passionate French […] with all the culture and intelligence of his race and period.”^[5] De László believed that Liezen-Mayer had become too staunchly academic, but apparently insisted that he could not have produced his painting in any other way than he did.

In February 1892, de László wore the Incroyable costume at the fancy-dress ball at which he met his future wife, Lucy Guinness.

In 1893, de László thus inscribed a print of this work to an unidentified friend: “This has been my favourite picture up till now, may this reproduction serve as a remembrance of my unalterable respect. Your friend, L. F., 16th February 1893.”^[6]

Three preparatory drawings are recorded for this work [110655] [111356] & [11256].

PROVENANCE:         

Graf Tivadar Andrássy de Csik-Szent-Király et Kraszna-Horka, in 1896

EXHIBITED:

•Glaspalast, Munich, 6th International exhibition, 1 June – 31 October 1892, no. 1019

•Hungarian Fine Art Society, Budapest, Winter exhibition, 1892-1893, no. 190        

•Hungarian Fine Art Society, Budapest, Millennium Exhibition (Ezredéves Országos Kiállítás), 1896, no. 795

LITERATURE:

•Illustrated catalogue of the 6th International art exhibition, Munich, 1892, p. 75, ill.                

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 79-81 & 101

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 24, 25, 26, 38

•Hart-Davis, Duff, László Fülöp élete és festészete [Philip de László's Life and Painting], Corvina, Budapest, 2019, ill. 14

•Field, Katherine ed., Transcribed by Susan de Laszlo, The Diaries of Lucy de László Volume I: (1890-1913), de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 34, ill. p. 35

•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. 14, ill. pp. 8, 15

•Field, Katherine, with essays by Sandra de Laszlo and Richard Ormond, Philip de László: Master of Elegance, Blackmore, 2024, p. 41

•DLA090-0066, Hungarian press cutting, [undated, page unknown]

•DLA090-0209, Pesti Hirlap, [undated, page unknown]

•DLA090-0248, Hungarian press cutting, [undated, page unknown]

CC 2008