7799

Study portrait

Constantine I of Greece, King of the Hellenes 1914

Head and shoulders in profile to the left, in three quarter profile, wearing a military tunic with gold braid 

Oil on board, 75 x 50 cm (29 ½ x 19 ¾ in.)

Inscribed lower right: P.A. de László / Athen [sic] 1914. IV. 21.   

Sitters’ Book I, f. 97: Constantine R. / Athen [sic] 1 / 14 April / 1914 

Private Collection

De László was invited to the Greek court in February 1914 to paint portraits of members of the Royal Family. He arrived 27 March and painted the Dowager Queen Olga [11592] [7794] before King Constantine sat for a formal three-quarter length portrait 14-20 April [11591]. This portrait is dated 21 April and was probably made as a gift for the sitter. The artist also completed a second study portrait [7801] which is more finished than the present picture, suggesting that that may have been a commission rather than a gift.  

During the same visit de László also painted portraits of Prince George [7811], son of the sitter, and Princess Cecilie, daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece [6622]

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [11591].

LITERATURE:

•Owen Rutter, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 282, 283, 286, 288, 289, 290-1

•Point de Vue Images du Monde no. 2009, 30 January 1987, p. 8

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 138

•Field, Katherine, Philip Alexius de László; 150th Anniversary Exhibition, de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 52

KF 2017