110978

Study portrait

Sir Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, Viceroy of India 1926

Head and shoulders, in profile to the left, wearing a morning coat, a wing-collar and a tie

Oil on canvas, 71.2 x 52.1 cm (28 x 20 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: 1926. XII 31

Sitters’ Book II, f. 51: Reading / Decr 1926

Private Collection

It is likely that the present portrait was offered to Lady Reading as a New Year’s present, in part to soothe her husband’s upset about the sittings for his official full-length portrait [6747], commissioned for the Viceroy’s House in Delhi. The Marquess of Reading and the artist had arranged to meet on 30th and 31st December only for de László to cancel Lord Reading and grant those sittings to Lord Cromer [4263].

Lord Reading’s reaction was firm: “I have put off all engagements to meet your wishes: I have as I told you important engagements next week and I cannot say at present what days I can give. I have tried my hardest to fit in engagements to suit your convenience with my own over this week and am somewhat surprised to find that you have cancelled them at Lord Cromer’s request.”^[1] A letter from Lord Cromer^[2] shows that de László immediately reverted to his original plans, and painted the present portrait during the sittings that had been previously arranged. It seems Lady Reading was delighted with it: “I cannot thank you sufficiently for your wonderful New Years [sic] gift. I am more grateful than I can say. It is a wonderful picture & a wonderful portrait.”^[3]

When de László made a gift of a study portrait, he tended to paint on board, leaving a large part of the surface unpainted. However, in this instance, the artist painted over the entire board (if only thinly in some places) using black and dark brown paint, so as to create a subtle chiaroscuro enhancing the sitter’s thoughtful expression.  

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [6747].

EXHIBITED:

•The French Gallery, A Series of Portraits and Studies by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., June 1927, no. 42

LITERATURE:         

•Blanco y Negro, 37th year, no. 1876, Madrid, Sunday 1 May 1927, p. 28, ill.

•The Graphic, 18 June 1927, ill.

•DLA083-0003, letter from Lord Reading to de László, 29 December 1927

•DLA083-0004, letter from Lady Reading to de László, 1 January 1927

CC 2008