111100

UNTRACED
Doctor Sándor Wekerle 1896
Standing three-quarter length, turned slightly to the right, his left hand resting on a book on a table, his right hand held in front of him, wearing a díszmagyar (Hungarian ceremonial dress) with a mantle fastened at the front by a jewelled chain, a sash across his chest and two decorations on the left side of his mantle
Oil [support and dimensions unknown]

Dr Wekerle first commissioned de László to paint his likeness in 1894 [111392] after admiring the artist’s official portrait of Dezső Szilágyi, who was Minister of Finance in Wekerle's government. Wekerle’s 1894 portrait was less formal than the present one, which is closer to Szilágyi’s, the sitter being painted in a very similar pose [13102].

De László donated the present portrait to a journalists' club,^[1] the Circle of Homeland Writers and Journalists (Otthon ĺrók és Hírlapírók Köre). He did so despite the advice of his mentor Elek Lippich de Korongh, who was Secretary in the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Education. Lippich thought that the portrait should go to a worthier place: "I wouldn't give Wekerle's portrait to the Jewish journalists^[2] with whom you would have no connection at all, and who wouldn't appreciate such a nice present. I would give it to the Hungarian National Historical Gallery, who would fittingly preserve your name. If you give it to them it would be a generous, impressive act, and it would please Wekerle too. You could write to Wekerle [...] telling him that you have donated the picture to the Historical Gallery, where it belongs!"^[3] 

In the long run Lippich proved to be right. In 1935 when de László wanted to exhibit this portrait in Budapest at the Nemzeti Szalon (National Salon) his friend, the art critic László Siklóssy managed to trace the portrait^[4] and sent de László a photograph of it. De László was upset to see that the portrait was in a very poor state: "I am very sorry to see from the photograph that the picture is in such a poor condition. I do not believe anything has been done to it since I painted it, which must now be forty-two years ago. [...] It would need a thorough cleaning and a mastic varnish. It must be done, and naturally I will willingly bear the expense. I am very proud of this picture of Wekerle and would love to know it in good condition. I wish that it too could be added to the portraits which are to be shown this autumn at the Nemzeti Szalon Portrait Exhibition, as an example of one of my earliest official works."^[5]  Siklóssy arranged for the restoration just in time for the exhibition and reported to de László: "The portrait of Wekerle is exhibited in a special place ... It was successfully restored, so that its original classic beauty is revealed in its entirety."^[6]   

De László must have been uncertain of the year in which he painted this portrait. In his diary for 1935 he remembers it as "one of my first official portraits ... prime minister Alex. Wekerle ... painted in 1895."^[7] However, he asked his brother Marczell (Marczi) to have the date confirmed, and Marczi responded: "The Homeland Writers' Circle replied to me, saying that you painted the portrait of Sándor Wekerle in 1896."^[8]

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [111392].

EXHIBITED:
•Kunstsalon Schneider, Frankfurt, winter 1896-97 (might also refer to [111392])

•Schulte Gallery, Berlin, February 1898 (might also refer to [111392])

•Nemzeti Szalon, Budapest, László Fülöp műveinek gyűjteményes kiállítása [Exhibition of Works by László Fülöp], April 1907, no. 84 [dated as 1885 [sic]; property of "Otthon"]

•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Hungarian Fine Art Society, Tavaszi kiállítás és László Fülöp, Munkácsy Mihály, Pentelei Molnár János, valamit Petz Samu és Hűvös László összegyűjtött műveinek kiállítása [Spring Exhibition and Retrospectives of Philip de László, Mihály Munkácsy, János Pentelei Molnár, Samu Petz and László Hűvös], 4 May - 30 June 1925, no. 38 (Property of Otthon)
•Nemzeti Szalon, Budapest, 5- 20 October 1935, no. 75a

LITERATURE:
•Schleinitz, Otto (von), Künstler Monographien, No. 106, Ph. A. von László,  Bielefeld and Leipzig, (Velhagen & Klasing), 1913, p. 26
•Siklóssy, László, Hogyan kell arcképet festeni, (Hungarian edition of  Baldry, A.L., Painting a Portrait, 1936), preface, p. 8
•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 152 & 158

•DLA162-0094, Pesti Hírlap, 6 March 1895, p. 6

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

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

•NSzL151-0003, “In Schultes Ausstellung”, Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 16 February 1898

•NSzL150-0097, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, 6 December 1899

•NSzL149-0010, letter from de László to Ernst, 21 March 1907

•DLA162-0102, Pesti Hírlap, 7 April 1907, p. 7

•DLA036-0019, letter from Dr László Siklóssy de Pernesz to de László, 5 October 1935

Pd'O 2008