112114

UNTRACED

REJECTED

The Marchioness of Carisbrooke, née Lady Irene Frances Adza Denison 1934

Half-length to the right, head turned slightly to the left, looking away from the viewer, wearing a pale evening dress with narrow straps, a tiara, a veil, and a sautoir necklace, her left hand to her left shoulder

Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 71.1 cm (36 x 28 in.)

Sitters’ Book II, f. 78: 14 May 1934 / Irene Carisbrooke

Studio Inventory, p. 6 (32): A study for the portrait on the “blank canvas” given by the artist in aid of the London Hospital of which he was made a Life Governor in recognition of the gift.

De László offered a blank canvas to the London Hospital to raise funds at an event organised by the Marchioness of Carisbrooke. The successful bidder presented it to the sitter and she attended the artist’s studio on 14 and 15 May. The present portrait is identified as a study in the artist’s Studio Inventory, compiled after his death in 1937 and marked as sold. However, in de László’s diary it is clear that it is a rejected version: “Began Carisbrook[e] pic…I had a splendid start & more – & better than I thought & glad to have began a new portrait – so much better then the first – beginning.”^[1] 

The portrait is photographed in the home of the sitter in Woman’s Journal in 1952 and must have been sold to her by the artist’s executors.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [3183].

PROVENANCE:
In the possession of the artist on his death;

Sold by his executors to the sitter by 1938

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 37

•Hillson, Norman, “Grace and Favour,” Woman’s Journal, February 1952, p. 28

•László, Philip de, 1934 diary, private collection, 7 July entry, p. 90

KF 2017