111215

POSTHUMOUS

Arthur Rosdew Burn 1915

Half-length in three-quarter profile to the right, wearing a grey coat, a white shirt and a blue and yellow tie

Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 55.9 cm (29 x 22 in.)

Inscribed lower right: 1916

Fyvie Castle, Scotland

This portrait was commissioned by Arthur Rosdew Burn’s grandfather, Alexander John Forbes-Leith, 1st Baron Leith of Fyvie. The sitter ws a serving officer with the British Army and found he was not able to grant the necessary sittings during his short leave from the front. Baron Fyvie asked whether the portrait might be painted from a photograph. De László preferred to work from life, painting only twenty-five posthumous portraits in his career. The artist seems to have refused the request as a second letter of 31 October 1914 pleads with him to accept the commission. What neither knew then was that Lieutenant Burn had been killed in action the day before. In these circumstances, de László painted the portrait for 50 guineas, half the fee he was charging serving officers as a patriotic gesture.

De László did not sign this posthumous portrait. This was not unusual when not satisfied with his work in this manner. He dated it 1916, which is probably inaccurate, as a letter from Baron Fyvie dated 14 September 1915 asks for the finished picture to be sent to their home, Stoodley Knowle, Torquay, which was at the time requisitioned as an Officers’ hospital: “The King and Queen visited my wife’s hospital on Saturday & they were delighted with everything. I am only sorry that they did not see your beautiful picture of our boy.”^[1] De László also painted portraits of the sitter’s father, Charles Rosdew Burn [111214], completed late December 1915, and the sitter’s sister Lorna Marsalie Burn [9819] in May 1916, so it is possible he added the date 1916 to the present portrait at that time.

Arthur’s mother wrote to de László: “I am so delighted to have it. How he looks just as he did before the war began. It is a wonderful portrait, his eyes are perfect.”^[2] His sister also praised the artist: “I think the portrait of my brother is perfectly beautiful, and I think it is wonderful how you did it from a photograph.”

Arthur Herbert Rosdew Burn was born 30 June 1892, the eldest son of Charles Rosdew Burn and his wife the Hon. Ethel Louise Forbes-Leith. He was educated at Ludgrove preparatory school and Eton, before being accepted at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1911. There, he was a member of the Bullingdon and Bachelors’ Clubs. He commissioned 2 September 1913 as 2nd Lieutenant 1st Royal Dragoons. He served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders and was killed in action at Hollebeke near Ypres, aged 22, on 30 October 1914. He has no known grave.

PROVENANCE:

Commissioned by Alexander John Forbes-Leith, 1st Baron Leith of Fyvie;

By descent in the family

LITERATURE:

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, p. 34

•DLA075-0004, letter from Baron Alexander Leith of Fyvie to de László, 28 October 1914

•DLA075-0005, letter from Baron Alexander Leith of Fyvie to de László, 31 October 1914

•DLA054-0125, letter from Baron Alexander Leith of Fyvie to de László, 14 September 1915

•DLA054-0117, letter from Lorna Burn to de László, 11 November 1915

•DLA054-0131, letter from Baron Alexander Leith of Fyvie to de László, 28 November [1915]

•DLA054-0116, letter from Ethel Rosdew Burn to de László [1915]

KF 2014