111356

History picture

Preparatory work

L’Incroyable, also known as 1793 1892

A man seated full-length on a plain wooden chair placed sideways to a table, his eyes cast downwards, wearing a redingote with a wide collar, a large white cravat, pale breeches and calf-length boots, his right hand resting on his left leg which is crossed over his right, his left arm on the table on which is also a decanter and glass; a scroll or sheet of paper in his left hand.

Charcoal and graphite on paper, 53.4 x 39 cm (21 x 15 ⅜ in.)

Inscribed lower right: László / München / 892…I [partly obscured by mount]

Private Collection

This is the second of three recorded preparatory drawings for de László’s history picture L’Incroyable [111787]. In the present study, the artist overcame the hesitation that prevailed in his treatment of the sitter’s pose in his first sketch [110655]. Here, the subject’s body is very similar to the composition de László adopted in the finished painting.

The sitter’s face, which was slightly turned to the left in the first preparatory drawing, is now slightly turned to the right, as in the final composition. However, his vacant gaze imbues the drawing with an atmosphere very different from the last preparatory study [11256], which sets the tone of the oil painting.

For a discussion of the subject of L’Incroyable, see [111787].

PROVENANCE:        

In the possession of the artist on his death

LITERATURE:        

•Rutter, Owen. Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 79-81

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 24

•NSzL150-0021, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, 9 May 1895      

CC 2008