2759

Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley and 3rd Baron Eddisbury 1904

Seated three-quarter length, slightly to the right, full face, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, red tie and gold watch-chain, his hands crossed and resting on his lap, all against a dark background

Oil on board, 96.5 x 78.8 cm (38 x 31 in.)

Sitters’ Book I, opp. f. 68: Stanley of Alderley

Private Collection

The present painting is remarkably similar to the 1904 three-quarter-length formal portrait of Lord Stanley of Alderley that was rejected by the Royal Academy for the 1905 Summer Exhibition [12808]. It may be a preparatory study for it, but it is more likely to be a copy of it, which the artist kept for himself. The formal portrait of Lord Stanley was a very important commission, which also marked the beginning of a twenty-five-year friendship. Compared with the original, the present work would appear to be cut down, its background is more rudimentary, without the curtain to the left and the chimneypiece to the right, but the figure appears to be almost identical.

A letter dated 3 May 1923 from Lord Stanley, by then styled Lord Sheffield,^[1] suggests that de László offered to give him some of the preparatory portrait studies he made for his 1904 portrait, and possibly for portraits of other members of the family.^[2] According to descendants of Lord Sheffield, he already had one at that time [2761], but even though he gratefully accepted de László’s offer, the others, including the present one, were in the artist’s possession when he died [2986]. A preparatory drawing for the same work also counted amongst de László’s possessions on his death [7287].

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

PROVENANCE:                

In the possession of the artist on his death

LITERATURE:

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

•DLA123-0009, letter from Lord Stanley to de László, 3 May 1923

CC 2008