2324

Mrs Stanley Baldwin, née Lucy Ridsdale 1936

Seated three-quarter length, slightly to the right, head turned and looking to the left, wearing a navy blue evening dress, a tiara and pearl necklaces with a white glove on her left hand and holding the other in her lap, her right wrist resting on the wooden arm of the chair, a jewelled bracelet

Oil on canvas, 127 x 102.9 cm (50 x 40 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1936 / I 21

Inscribed verso [in another hand]: This portrait was a gift to Mrs. S. Baldwin by Sir Julien Cahn, and the painter, de Laszlo, gave the money it cost to the National Birthday Trust Fund, on the occasion of the Ball held in aid, in December 1935. CLB was President of the NBTF and sat for the portrait in Hampstead.

Laib L19756(428) / C2(7A)

NPG Album 1936-37, p. 2

Sitters’ Book II, f. 85: Lucy Baldwin 20 - 12 – 35

Private Collection

De László and his wife Lucy attended a fundraising ball for the National Birthday Trust in December 1935. Lucy Baldwin, wife of the Prime Minister, was serving as President and the artist offered to paint her portrait and donate the fee to the Trust. Her close friend Sir Julien Cahn, Master of the Woodland Pytchley, was also in attendance and offered to pay the fee as a token of his admiration for the sitter and her work for the charity. Cahn also donated funds to build the Lucy Baldwin Maternity Hospital, in Stourport, Worcestershire and had a bronze plaque installed which read: “What she wanted most in the world. Presented to her by Julien Cahn Esq.”

The artist visited Mrs Baldwin at home in 10 Downing Street on 16 December 1935, when he may have produced the preparatory drawings for the portrait [2326] [112312]. She went to his studio 20 December and de László made a preparatory oil study [112311] before completing the present portrait.  

De László and Lucy were invited to 10 Downing Street, 23 June 1936, where they were guests of the sitter for Trooping the Colour: “we arrived at 10. Downing Str – to be the guest of Mrs Baldwin – where [sic] had our places reserved on the Prime Minister’s tribune – Mrs Baldwin received us warmly… next to Lucy – The Lady Oxford [Asquith] what a[n] unpleasant parrot’s features – and a very nasty one too. On my side I had the handsome Lady Desborough [sic, i.e. ‘Bessborough’] just home from Canada – she is still handsome & became a great snob. In the tribune I counted various former sitters – next to Mrs Baldwin – Lady Asquith Oxford [9769] – The Duchess of Northumberland [6841] – her two red blond small daughters [6845] [6855] – very alike their late father – etc. Mrs Neville Chamberlain stood out as one of the most charming woman & handsome – genuine – feminine. It was a smart group – of people – friends of the Prime Minister – It is the third king we saw – on this fine military display – King Edward – looked the best – After the ceremony – we took some refreshment – then the handsome Lady Sec. of Mrs B. showed us up in the drawing room – where my portrait stands on an easel & I felt proud of its quallities [sic].”^[1]

Lucy Ridsdale was born 19 June 1869, the eldest daughter of Edward Ridsdale and his wife Esther Thacker. She was a member of the White Heather Club, the first women's cricket club, founded in 1887 at Nun Appleton Hall near Appleton Roebuck. In 1892 she married Stanley Baldwin who was elected to the first of his three terms as Prime Minister in 1923. There were two sons and four daughters of the marriage, their eldest son Oliver was painted in 1917 [9712].

The sitter was very sociable and enjoyed London society, in direct contrast with her husband’s love of the countryside. She did not actively involve herself in her husband’s politics but campaigned for improved maternity care. In 1928 she became vice-chair of the newly founded National Birthday Trust Fund. She pushed to reduce the dangers and mortality rates of childbirth and was particularly concerned with access to proper pain relief during labour for all mothers rather than just the wealthy few. To this end she established the Anaesthetics Fund in 1929 and raised money for the development of  cheaper forms of analgesia which could be safely administered by midwives at the mother's home. She also sought to educate public opinion and her work contributed to the passage of the Midwives Act of 1936, which created the system of a national salaried midwives service.

In 1937 she became Countess Baldwin when her husband was created 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley. She died suddenly of a heart attack 17 June 1945 at their home, Astley Hall, Worcestershire and was cremated and interred in Worcester Cathedral with those of her husband after his death in 1947.

PROVENANCE:

Presented to the sitter by Sir Julien Cahn, 1937

EXHIBITED:

•Wildenstein & Co., Ltd., London, Exhibition of Paintings by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., November-December 1937 [part of the 2nd hang from 7-22 December 1937] 

LITERATURE:

•Ball, Stuart, ‘Baldwin, Stanley, first Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (1867–1947),’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011

•DLA135-0064, letter from de László to Marczell ‘Marczi’ László, 24 December 1935

•László, Philip de, March-July 1936 diary, private collection, 9 March entry, p. 11; 6 April entry, p. 54; 14 April entry, p. 63 [pasted press cutting, Birmingham Mail, 3 April 1936]; 23 June entry, pp. 129-130

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 373

KF 2017