13239

Still Life

Hibiscus Flowers and Oranges painted at the Hotel Timeo, Taormina 1933

Arranged in a cream vase with their foliage, set on a white table cloth

Oil on canvasboard, 40.5 x 51 cm (16 x 20 in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / Taormina 1933 III  

Studio Inventory, p. 104 (617): Oranges and Hibiscus, Taormina. On loan from the Trustees

Private Collection

Between 1932 and 1934 de László was busy as ever with endless commissions, exhibitions and trips to Europe and America. He was in the Vatican on 24 March 1933, when he painted an interior study, The Cardinals’ Room [11985] and in early April of that year he painted a view of the Pincio Gardens in Rome [11070]. 

He visited Sicily with his wife Lucy earlier in March 1933. No related portraits have been traced, as the artist was under his doctor’s orders to take a rare holiday at this time, although it is known from contemporary correspondence that he took some forty ‘canvasses’ with him.^[1] 

Two other paintings are extant from this stay in Taormina: one, a view in the gardens of the Hotel Timeo [11986]; the other a view from a terrace overlooking the sea, most probably also from the hotel [5256].  

Taormina is a famous resort on the east coast of Sicily, halfway between the towns of Messina and Catania. It enjoys spectacular views of Etna, however, the adverse weather during their stay prevented de László from painting the volcano.

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death

SMdeL & SdeL 2013