DLA016-0030 Transcription
25th October, 1926
My dear Friend,
I much regret that you never received the letter which I sent you from the Tyrol. Yours which you wrote to me at Venice reached me safely.
My experiences as soon as I left you, were not altogether very splendid ones: [illegible] hardly had you and my brother[1] left me, then I fell very ill at Venice and had to give up my journey to the Umbrian towns. I was sent by the Doctor high up in the Tyrolean mountains, near Bolzano. Later on I was able to do some studies for myself, which gave me great pleasure now to possess.[2]
We went home via Zurich and saw our sons, then before starting my work here, we spent another week up in Scotland with friends. I have only just got back and am obliged to leave for Paris, where I shall be staying with the Duc de Gramont[3] for three weeks, painting various portraits. My wife will accompany me there for a week.
As I have already told you – I ought to have gone to Madrid and Lisbon to paint for the Royal family and the British Ambassador at Madrid and also at Lisbon.[4]
To day, however, I had the pleasure of being received by the Queen of Spain, who is at present over here,[5] and arranged with her to go out to Spain at the end of January next year, instead of just now, as I must settle down and concentrate myself on my work here, which I do not wish to neglect.
The boys are all well – Patrick writes glorious letters from Hamburg that he is already typing all the English correspondence.
[Page 2]
With Henry we have difficulties, as he wishes to marry in December, but we still hope that he will postpone it, as we have told him that we shall not take any notice of it.[6]
I never would have thought that any girl would have been to get such intense influence over him, as to make him neglect his vocation!
Otherwise we are all well – we cannot always have sunshine – I am also very distressed about my brother’s affairs – but I do hope these clouds will soon disperse.[7]
I am returning you the article which I think is splendid – you have an excellent memory. You will notice that I have made just a few alterations.
Looking forward to hearing from you and | With best greetings from us both, | Always
Editorial Note:
Sigmund Münz (1859-1934), Austrian journalist and writer; for biographical notes see [6377].
CC
03/02/2006
[1] Marczell ‘Marczi’ Laszlo (1871-1940) [6521], the artist’s younger brother
[2] See, for example, [4289], [4290], [5771], [9375], and [112663]
[3] Antoine XII-Armand, 12th duc de Gramont; styled duc de Guiche (1879-1962) [11801]
[4] In the spring of 1927, de László spent seven weeks at the Royal Palace in Madrid, where he painted portraits of King Alfonso XIII [12400] [12438], his consort Queen Victoria Eugenia [11735] [12398], and their children, don Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg, Prince of Asturias [112235] [8003] [8004], the Infantes don Jaime [10852], don Juan [12015] and don Gonzalo [8014], and portraits of the two Infantas, doña Beatriz [8008] [10254], and doña María Cristina [10854] [112335]. Whilst in Madrid, he also painted portraits of Sir Horace George Montagu Rumbold [6814], British Ambassador to Spain, and of Sir Horace’s daughter, Constantia [6817]. Owen Rutter records that “In February, 1927, he (de László) left England for Lisbon to fulfil a long-standing engagement to paint the British Ambassador, the Hon. Sir Lancelot Carnegie [3965] and his wife [3967] and daughter [6269]. He completed these portraits in three weeks” (Rutter, p. 369).
[5] Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, née Princess Victoria Eugénie Julia Ena of Battenberg; Consort of Alfonso XIII (1887-1969) [7933] arrived in London on 22nd October 1926; it was a private visit to stay with her mother, Princess Beatrice (1857-1944) [3488], at Kensington Palace, see Westminster Gazette, 23 October 1926, p. 2.
[6] Henry Guinness de Laszlo (1901-1967) [11664], eldest of the five sons of Philip and Lucy de László married Violet Staub (1900-1989) [13180] on 11th January 1927. Neither Philip nor Lucy attended the wedding (see DLA016-0007, letter from de László to Sigmund Münz, 21 January 1927). When, in 1926, Henry informed his parents of his intention to marry Violet, they counselled putting the wedding off until the end of the 1926-27 school year; the young couple chose not to wait. See also DLA016-0002, letter from de László to Sigmund Münz, 18 December 1926 in which the artist writes of “the heavy cloud” that the impending nuptials were causing.
[7] For further biographical notes on de László’s brother, Marczell, see [6521]