5063

Count Andor Festetics de Tolna 1896

Standing half-length to the left, three-quarter face, wearing a black díszmagyar, the ceremonial dress of a Hungarian nobleman, holding a hat decorated with an egret feather in his right hand, the thumb of his left hand hooked over his belt, the broad pink cordon of a decoration across his chest, all against a dark background.

Oil on canvas, 114 x 82 cm (45 x 32 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower right: László  F  896

Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum (Hungarian National Museum), Budapest

Történelmi  Képcsarnok (Historical Gallery)

According to de László's diary^[1] the present portrait was painted in his "new studio in the Bálvány utca," in the centre of Budapest, and was commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture. They also commissioned de László to paint a portrait of the sitter’s predecessor at the Ministry, Count András Bethlen [2860]. He received a fee of 1000 florins for each of these portraits. In his diary de László describes the present sitter in somewhat uncomplimentary terms: "He was a member  of a very old family, typical of the Hungarian oligarchy which had its being in the State and found it difficult to identify itself with the nation's progress: it would have supported any dynasty for its own sake.^[2] Count Andor was picturesque, like a faun, sensual and Nero-minded, with his exceptionally high forehead, his hair combed back over his head, his long narrow bony face and yellow skin. I did not care for him; to me he seemed something without a soul. His wife was like a red-haired Rubens portrait. She suffered much."^[3]

Count Andor Festetics de Tolna, a landowner and politician, was born into a distinguished family in Pest on 17 January 1843. His estate was in western Hungary, in Szeleste (Vas county), where he established a famous arboretum. He was a Liberal member of parliament from 1892 to 1896, and served as Minister of Agriculture 1894 -1895 in the government of Sándor Wekerle (who was also painted by de László, [111392]. In 1870, Count Andor married Countess Lenke Pejacsevich de Verőcze. He died on 16 August 1930.  

PROVENANCE:

Royal Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter. London, 1939, p. 150

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 45

•DLA162-0350, Pesti Hírlap, 21 March 1896, p. 7

•DLA068-0020, letter from Count Andor Festetics to de László, 22 July 1896

•NSzL150-0016, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, [undated, presumably 1896]

•NSzL150-0034, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, 21 September 1896

•NSzL150-0035, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, 2 October 1896

•NSzL150-0037, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, 22 October 1896

•DLA068-0018, letter from Count Andor Festetics to de László, 6 November 1896

Pd'O 2008