110545

Laura Pacheco de del Solar Dorrego, née Laura Ángela Pacheco Santamarina 1926

Seated half-length and looking to the left, head turned in semi-profile, wearing a white and gold gown with a frilled neckline and a blue and gold brocade kimono with fur trimmings, her hands clasped together, a wedding ring on her left hand and a large emerald on her right

Oil on canvas, 86.5 x 71cm (34 x 28 in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László  / 1926 / Pariz [sic]

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 50: Paris 29 Octobre 1926 Laura del Solar Dorrego

Private Collection

In the 1920s and early 1930s de László painted many South American sitters in Paris or in London, where they would come to spend the summer season and so avoiding their southern hemisphere winter. In 1921, he had painted Laura’s aunt, Elvira Santamarina Irasusta [110549], who may well have introduced her niece to de László.

The artist had left London for Paris on 27 October 1926, and although Laura de Del Solar Dorrego’s name does not appear in his appointment book on the 29th, the day she signed his Sitters’ Book, de László recorded sittings with ‘Orego’ on 1-4 November. Since his spelling was often wayward, it is very likely it was to her sittings that he referred.^[1] The kimono she wears in her portrait was probably improvised with a brocade fabric de László used numerous times in his portraits, notably in that of Comtesse Arthur de Liedekerke [4833].

On 21 January 1927 de László commented in a letter to his friend, the journalist Sigmund Münz, regarding recent work: “While in Paris I painted also another very beautiful Argentine – a Spanish lady [sic] of the best family – called Mme. Del Solar Dorrego, and I have already had news from them that the picture has arrived safely and is much appreciated.”^[2] Almost ten years later he was contacted by Carlos del Solar Dorrego, Laura’s husband, from the Ritz in London, referring to the portrait ‘you painted a few years ago which gave us great satisfaction, and is considered in Buenos Aires one of your finest works.’^[3] 

Laura Ángela Pacheco Santamarina was born on 23 June 1894 in Buenos Aires. She was the eldest of six children of Angel Eduardo Pacheco Bunge^[4] and Josefa Santamarina Irasusta.^[5] Through her father, Laura was the great-granddaughter of General Ángel Pacheco,^[6] hero of Argentina’s Independence, and, through her mother, the eldest granddaughter of Ramón Santamarina Valcarcel,^[7] one of the great pioneers of Argentina, with whom as a child she lived in the last years of his life.

Laura did not attend school, but was tutored at home by English, French and German governesses and learned to speak these languages fluently. Her childhood was spent in Buenos Aires and at the family estancia Bella Vista in the south of the Province of Buenos Aires until the poor health of her only brother led the family to move to Switzerland. For six years they lived at the Château de Crêtes in Montreux. Laura often visited the major capitals of Europe with her parents, particularly Paris and London.^[8] 

On 22 November 1916 Laura Ángela Pacheco Santamarina married Carlos del Solar Dorrego (1891-1961) in Buenos Aires. He was the son of the Chilean writer, Alberto del Solar (1859-1921) and Felicia Dorrego Lezica (1864-1924). Carlos was a landowner in Argentina who became a serious collector of art. The year after their wedding, Laura’s mother died, and at the age of twenty-three she assumed responsibility for her four younger siblings. Laura and Carlos had four children: Laura Josefa (born 1919), Carlos Ángel (born 1921), Fernando (born 1925) and Felicia (born 1938). She lived all her married life in Buenos Aires, although she continued to travel regularly throughout Europe.

Laura was involved in much philanthropic work. She was vice-president of the Cantinas Maternales^[9] and a member of the governing body of a charity, the Society of St Joseph in Buenos Aires. She also volunteered her time to charities in the Oriente  province of Buenos Aires, where she had inherited land.

She died at her home in Buenos Aires aged ninety-nine on 21 July 1993. Her obituary in the Argentine national newspaper La Nación, highlighted her Christian upbringing which was, “further reinforced by her profound sense of duty and justice, she represented our country in the European salons of the Belle Epoque as the perfect example of grace, good-breeding and beauty.”^[10]

LITERATURE:

•László, Philip de, 1926 appointment book, private collection.

•DLA016-0007, letter from de László to Sigmund Münz, 21 January 1927

•DLA024-0345, letter from Carlos del Solar Dorrego to de László, 2 April 1937

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

SMdeL 2012