2601

Study portrait

Mrs Wilfrid Ashley, later Lady Mount Temple, née Muriel Spencer, formerly the Honourable Mrs Forbes-Sempill 1920

Head and shoulders in profile to the right, three-quarter face, wearing an elaborate, coloured bandeau in her hair, with an orange tassel falling onto her right shoulder

Oil on board, 72.4 x 52.1 cm (28 ½ x 20 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: To my charming sitter / P A de : László / 1920 III.   

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 13: Muriel Ashley. / Feb 25th. 1920

Private Collection

De László was commissioned by the sitter’s husband Wilfred Ashley to paint a formal portrait of his wife to hang in pendant with a Romney portrait of a lady at their home, Broadlands, in Hampshire. The sittings took place in February and March 1919 and the artist presented this additional study portrait to her as a gift.

For biographical notes on the sitter see [2234].

LITERATURE:

•The Sketch, 26 May 1926, p. 273

KF 2012