11593

Lieutenant Desmond Gardiner Trouton 1915

Almost half-length to the left, full face to the viewer and looking right, wearing the uniform of the Royal Artillery

Oil on board, 80 x 54.9 cm (31 ½ x 21 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: P. A. de László / 1915. May 16  

Laib L7675(396) / C26(15) Lieutenant Trouton

Laib L7964(259) / C27(16) Lieutenant Trouton

Sitters’ Book I, f. 103: Desmond Gardiner Trouton / May 16th 1915

Private Collection

This portrait of Desmond Trouton is typical of those that de László was commissioned to paint during the First World War. They were often completed in one sitting and Lucy de László notes in her diary that this one was started and finished 16 May 1915. The artist, however, only notes an appointment with the sitter the following day. De László also painted portraits in uniform of the sitter’s brothers Maurice [7521] and Frederick [7519], and of his uncle Doctor Gardiner Trouton [7517]. He also made portraits of the sitter’s father in 1909 [5468], his mother with his sisters Mary and Ruth in 1915 [7488], and of his sister Olive in 1910 [11580].  

Desmond Gardiner Trouton was born in Dublin December 1893, second son of the distinguished physicist Professor Frederick Trouton (1863-1922) [5468] and his wife née Annie Fowler (1864-1928) [7488]. There were four sons and three daughters of the marriage: Frederick (born 1892), Maurice (born 1895), Rupert (born 1897), Anne (born 1900), Ruth (born 1904) and Mary (born 1906).

Desmond was educated at Winchester College and then studied Electrical Engineering at University College, London. In July 1914 he was appointed to the Special Reserve of the The Royal Field Artillery and went to France with the 2nd Division of the Expeditionary Force. He was wounded in the First Battle of Ypres in the winter of 1914 and returned to England. The present portrait was painted during this time. He was also photographed with his family at Melbreck, their country house near Farnham. His brother Frederick was killed at Loos four months after the photograph was taken.

After his recovery, Desmond took part in the Gallipoli Campaign and the landing at Suvla Bay. He was invalided from the Dardanelles shortly after and returned to France in April 1916, before being wounded again in July. Shortly before his death he was given command of a battery and was mentioned in Despatches. He was killed near Ypres 13 October 1917 and is buried in the Huts Cemetery, designed by Edwin Lutyens.  

The present portrait survived the bomb that killed Trouton’s brother Maurice and his wife in their London flat during the Second World War in 1944.

PROVENANCE:

Maurice Trouton, brother of the sitter

EXHIBITION:

•Christie’s, London, A Brush with Grandeur, 6-22 January 2004, no. 66, ill.

LITERATURE:

•László, Lucy de, 1915 diary, private collection, 16 May entry, p. 78

KF 2018