110458    

Isabel Hope Duggan 1924

Seated three-quarter length and looking to the right, with both hands resting on the left arm of her chair, wearing a gold organza stole over her pale yellow evening dress.

Oil on canvas, 103 x 82.5 cm (40 ½ x 32 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / LONDON 1924 

Laib L11552(799)/ C12(36)

N.P.G. 1923 Album,^[1] p. 41: Isabel Hope de Harrington 

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 40: Isabel Hope / April 1924

Private Collection

This portrait was painted in what was a busy year for the artist with an exhibition of fifty works at the French Gallery, Pall Mall in June 1924. A contemporary reviewer listed the portrait of Miss Isabel Hope “among these fifty portraits [which] show his gifts in the most favourable light”, having already observed that “Mr. de Laszlo, more perhaps than any contemporary portrait painter, follows the tradition of the 18th century, Lawrence and Hoppner being the sources of his inspiration rather than Gainsborough or Reynolds.”^[2] Shortly before the French Gallery show, the artist had visited the Vatican, and his freshly completed portrait of Pope Pius XI [6690]^[3] took the place of honour at his exhibition, together with that of Queen Marie of Romania [3200].

In the 1920s, Isabel Hope led a full social life in Argentina and England, where she enjoyed the hunting season and parties. According to her descendants it was at one of these events that de László asked Isabel Hope Duggan to paint her daughter’s portrait and, as was characteristic, he already had a frame in mind.^[4] However, a letter from him to Corina Kavanagh de Ham [110547] in the artist’s archive shows that it was through her agency that the present commission was arranged. He wrote to Mrs Ham:

“It will give me great pleasure to paint the portrait of Mrs. Hope’s daughter during the month of May. […] Please also kindly let me know what size picture Mrs Hope requires.”^[5] De László recorded in his 1924 appointment book that sittings for the portrait took place on 1, 2 and 3, 5, 6, 10, 12 and 13 May 1924.

According to Isabel Hope’s descendants, the artist succeeded in portraying the essence of her personality. The artist was also painting Queen Marie of Romania and both portraits were unveiled at a reception in de lászló’s studio at 3 Fitzjohn’s Avenue. He walked swiftly up to Queen Marie’s portrait [3200] on its easel and uncovered it, announcing: “The Queen!” He then uncovered the portrait of Isabel and declared: “The Girl!”^[6]

Isabel Hope was born on 30 March 1905 at the family’s summer holiday home in Argentina, Hope Villa, at Mar del Plata. She was the third of six children of Christopher Hope,^[7] from Gartlandstown, County Westmeath, Ireland, and Isabel Duggan Casey^[8] of Buenos Aires.

During her early years Isabel was tutored at home in Buenos Aires, but she was later sent to boarding school in England: Mayfield Convent School, now known as St Leonards-Mayfield School in Sussex.  She spoke Spanish, English and French fluently and was a keen student. She married Alfredo Harrington^[9] in April 1926 at the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced in Buenos Aires. They had no children. The first years of their married life were spent mostly at the estancia, San Julián,^[10] which had belonged to Isabel’s mother. She learnt all about her husband´s favourite sport, polo, and his famous polo ponies, which she rode with great skill at various events, winning many prizes.

Alfredo Harrington played for the Santa Paula polo team that won the Pacific Open championship in the United States in 1930 as well as the USA championship in 1931. They were top amongst American teams and made great friends in the amateur polo world. In England, Alfredo took part in several matches with the Duke of Edinburgh, who became a personal friend. In the 1960s, Alfredo, umpired in the finals of the Deauville polo tournaments. Isabel, in her quiet way, befriended many and various people such as Guy de Rothschild in France and Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who had helped Jews escape from the Nazi regime.

Efficient and practical, she devoted a lot of her time to her charitable work, both in the slums near her home in Buenos Aires and in the village near her estancia. She also trained as a professional nurse for the Red Cross, in case she would be needed during the Second World War. Although austere and disciplined, she showed kindness to the needy and sick.

Before her husband died, she wrote a short book about him called Un Criollo Irlandés.^[11]  The summer she broke her right shoulder and was compelled to stay at home, she wrote with her left hand, a catechism: Jesús está cerca (Jesus is near) for the children of rural Argentina. This edition became a popular present for young boys and girls upon their confirmation.

An attractive personality, doña Isabel was constantly surrounded by young people, great nieces and nephews. With characteristic generosity she left a generous bequest for those who had worked for her and for the charities which she had supported. She died in Buenos Aires on 21 September 1996, aged ninety-one.

EXHIBITED:

•The French Gallery, London, A Series of Portraits and Studies By Philip A. de László, M.V.O., June 1924, no. 4

LITERATURE:

•DLA094-0065, The Daily Mail, 26 June 1924

•DLA015-0041, letter from de László to Cora Ham,^[12] 22 February 1924

With our grateful thanks to members of the sitter’s family for their invaluable assistance in preparing the biography for this entry.

SMdeL 2011