110456

Study portrait
Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry 1911
Half-length in semi-profile to the left, wearing a brown mantle over a dark brown tunic with white collar, with the Order of the Golden Fleece and the red and green ribbon of the Order of St. Stephen around his neck, the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen under his left lapel.
Oil on board, 88 x 70 cm (34 ¾ x 27 ½ in.)
Inscribed lower right: László Fülöp / 1911 március / Buda.

Sitters' Book I, f. 85: Gr. Khuen-Héderváry / 911 / III /23.

Private Collection

In the autumn of 1910 de László was commissioned to paint the portrait of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Count Károly Khuen- Héderváry. He proudly describes the genesis of this commission in a letter to his friend, Bishop Vilmos Fraknói [5120], enjoining him to strict secrecy: "Perczel, the president of the Munkapárt (Party of Work)^[1] has asked me to paint the portrait of Count Khuen, the Prime Minister, for the Club,^[2]  and it will be unveiled at the Spring Exhibition. I had the opportunity to meet His Excellency Perczel and discuss this while I was in Pest, and the following afternoon in Vienna I was with the Prime Minister at the Hungarian Palace for one and a half hours and he gave me an extremely warm reception.^[3] So ... I am coming to Pest to paint the portrait at the Prime Minister's Residence, which is a very important assignment for me!”^[4]  In another letter to Fraknói, de László wrote:  “I have read that Count Khuen saw the Ruler yesterday – perhaps my affair too has been settled?”^[5] It was indeed during Khuen-Héderváry’s premiership, in March 1912, that de László received the news of his ennoblement.^[6] Khuen-Héderváry’s support therefore must have been especially important for him. The portrait was painted in March 1911^[7] but remains untraced, see [11984]. It was exhibited at Agnew's in London in 1911.^[8] 

The present study-portrait was painted at the same time and may have been painted in preparation for the official portrait. De László presented it to his sitter, who in turn gave it to his wife. She was enormously pleased by it and thought it was a very good likeness.^[9] Otto von Schleinitz in his 1913 monograph on de László wrote: “Masculinity, benevolence, intelligence and firmness of character emanate from the portrait.”^[10] Although he was probably referring to the finished portrait [11984], his comment seems just as applicable to the present study. Here, the bright touches of red, green and gold used by the artist to indicate the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of St Stephen enliven the brown hues that dominate this study-portrait and contribute to the success of the colour scheme.  

Count Károly Khuen von Belasi was born in Bad Gräfenberg, Freiwaldau in Austrian Silesia (now in the Czech Republic) on 23 May 1849, the son of Count Anton Leopold Khuen von Belasi and his wife Angelika, née Baroness Izdenczy de Monostor et Komlós. In 1874, as the sole heir of Count Hederich Viczay de Loós et Hédervár, he took the name Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár by Imperial decree, uniting the arms of the Khuen and the Viczay families, and thus becoming the founder of the Khuen-Héderváry family. After graduating in Law at the University of Zagreb, Khuen-Héderváry embarked on a distinguished career in politics and public administration.   Elected to parliament in 1875, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of the county of Győr in 1882. The following year, at the early age of 33, he became Bán (Viceroy) of Croatia. He remained in that post for twenty years, becoming a Privy Councillor and Court Chamberlain, and was awarded the Order of the Iron Crown (1885) and the Order of the Golden Fleece (1891). In 1903 he was appointed Prime Minister of Hungary. He held this office for only a few months, but he served a second term as Prime Minister in 1910-12, simultaneously holding a number of other ministerial posts. In 1910 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, and in 1915 he was elected a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.  

In 1880 he married Countess Margit Teleki de Szék (1860-1922) with whom he had two sons: Sándor (1881-1946), a diplomat, and Károly László (1888-1960), who became president of the National Chamber of Agriculture. He died in Budapest on 16 February 1918.

LITERATURE:
•Schleinitz, Otto (von),  Künstler Monographien № 106, Ph. A. von László, Velhagen & Klasing, Bielefeld und Lepzig, 1913, p. 122
•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1939, p. 272

•DLA068-0100, letter from István Bárczy de Bárcziháza to de László, 4 October 1910

•DLA044-0013, letter from de László to Bishop Vilmos Fraknói, 11 October 1910

•DLA068-0110, letter from István Bárczy de Bárcziháza to de László, 8 March 1911
•DLA029-0022, letter from Countess Károly Khuen-Héderváry to de László, 13 April 1911

•DLA044-0059, letter from de László to Bishop Vilmos Fraknói, undated

Pd’O 2008