DLA016-0153 Transcription

Villa Pestellini,

Villa della Piazzola 32. Firenze.

Dear Mr de Laszló –

A line to tell you I have just come out to Florence to learn about all the Art that is found h[ere] [small loss due to scanning] The weather is perfect & the country marvellous. –

I went to pay a respectful homage to your portrait this morning it stands in all honour with the great masters & I was glad to find a friendly face in that huge Pitti Palace [presumed to be 9724]!^[1] – I hope you are [illegible] well. Have you painted my friend Miss Brandt?^[2] – Perhaps we shall meet in Paris? I go there D.V. early in June for a few days – When will you be there? It would be nice to meet & I’ll tell you then how much I care for this very lovely place. –

Your friend

Hedwige d’Ursel.

Editorial Note:

Marquise de Maupeou Monbail, née Comtesse Hedwige d’Ursel (1902-1987); for biographical notes, see [4981].

SMDL

02/01/2018

[1] Presumably a reference to de László’s self-portrait [9724], which he painted at the request of the Italian government for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The portrait hangs in the Vasari Corridor, an elevated enclosed passageway running from the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace over the Ponte Vecchio. In 1926, de László’s portrait of Monsigneur Count Péter Vay de Vaja et Luskod [5624] was presented by the sitter to the Gallery of Modern Art in the Pitti Palace.

[2] Possibly Mrs Claud Mullins, née Elizabeth Gwendolen 'Gwen' Brandt (1904-1997) [6371], or Mrs Bruce Money, née Jean Garmany Brandt (1900-1973) [3600]. The artist completed [6371] on 12 June 1925, just before leaving for the continent.