4981

Study portrait

Comtesse Hedwige d’Ursel, later Marquise de Maupeou Monbail 1929

Head and shoulders slightly to the right, head turned in three-quarter profile to the left, a pale blouse or dress just indicated

Oil on board, 80 x 62 cm (31 ½ x 24 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: in memory of your / wedding day / de László / London 1929 III.   

Private Collection

De László’s first association with the d’Ursel family was in 1920, when he painted Comtesse Hedwige’s father Robert, 7th Duc d’Ursel [4973]. A friendship developed between the two men, and in 1926, the Duc’s patronage was renewed when he commissioned the artist to paint the portrait of his mother Antonine, the dowager Duchesse [4969]. This study portrait of Hedwige, a wedding present from de László, bears testimony to the artist’s enduring friendship with the d’Ursels.

In 1929, three weeks before her marriage to Gaston, Marquis de Maupeou Monbail, Hedwige visited the de Lászlós for tea. In a letter she wrote to the artist eight years later, she vividly recalled the circumstances under which her portrait was painted: “you so generously suggested making a sketch of me as a present…I could hardly believe you meant it, & explained how I had to be back in Brussels [the] next day for lunch, & was flying back in the morning. I had just been certified as a pilot & lived in the thrill of it! Then, as a joke, never believing you had meant it, I added: ‘But I can come at eight^[1] in the morning if you like!’ I shall never forget your spirited reply: ‘that’s right my dear’…and, when […] I drove up to your studio before breakfast next morning, there you were ready, with the framed canvas on its easel, those lovely, fresh-smelling paints on the table while you waved your magic brush like a conductor, ready to orchestrate them all into a glorious symphony. Fifty-five minutes later the sketch was completed, & as I ran to the door, Mrs de Laszlo [sic] came from the dining-room with some fruit for my journey […]: ‘it is the first picture he has ever done before his breakfast. It’s historical!’ which, of course gave added value to the beautiful gift. Driving across to Croydon, & flying back to Brussels, where I arrived just in time for lunch it all seemed like a dream until the portrait actually arrived on our Wedding Eve.”^[2]

Comtesse Hedwige d’Ursel was born in Middelkerke, Belgium, on 18 June 1902, the second of the three children of Robert, 7th  Duc d’Ursel and his wife Sabine Franquet de Franqueville. During the First World War, as refugees from occupied Belgium, the family lived in England. Hedwige went to school at The Priory, Haywards Heath, with her sister Marie, who later became a nun there. In 1928, Hedwige became the second woman in Belgium to pass her flying test. On 24 April 1929, she married Gaston, Marquis de Maupeou Monbail, later an Admiral in the French Navy. Together they had four sons: Aurian (born 1930), who later succeeded to the title, Daniel-Ange (born 1932), Pascal (born 1934), and Raphaël (born 1937). Her husband being frequently posted abroad, she followed him to Syria, Morocco, and China, the children remaining at home in Brussels. After the Second World War they settled in the South of France. She died there on 17 May 1987, aged eighty-four. She left three volumes of memoirs: Ombre portée, Alternances, and Ce qui résonne encore.

LITERATURE :

•Ursel, Hedwige d’, Alternances, Vol. II, private publication, c. 1960

•Addington, A.C., The Royal House of Stuart, London, 1969-76, Vol. I, ill. facing p. 390

•DLA025-0088, letter from Hedwige de Maupeou Monbail to de László, 29 August 1937

•László, Philip de, 1934 diary, private collection

CC 2010