2608

Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor of Hever Castle 1924

Half-length in semi-profile to the right, with his right hand raised to the lapel of his dark suit

Oil on canvas, 91 x 75 cm (36 x 29 ½ in.)

Laib L11578 (749) / C1 (37)

NPG Album 1923, f. 61

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 39: Astor. Feb. 29th: 1924.

Private Collection

The present portrait was commissioned on 18 December 1923,^[1] by Lady Astor, the sitter’s wife. Although in her initial letter, there was a sense of urgency about the execution of the commission, her secretary wrote again to the artist ten days later: “[Lady Astor] would much like to have a sketch of Lord Astor, but he is at present looking tired, and decidedly not at his best and she thinks it would be wiser to wait a little before he sits to you.”^[2]

Sittings were arranged for mid-February, but these were postponed to 27, 28 and 29 February.^[3] De László, as early as January 1924, had explained to Lord Astor’s secretary that he would only require three sittings, but that during the first one, he would request Lord Astor to sit to him in the afternoon as well as in the morning. De László produced two versions [112615][112616] that were rejected as the artist was not satisfied with the composition. They were later destroyed by the executors of de László’s will in accordance with his wish that works which were not worthy of his artistic reputation should be destroyed. Lord Astor was very satisfied with the final portrait: “I must send you a line to tell you how pleased I am with the picture an how much I have enjoyed the sittings.” ^[4]

De László also painted the sitter's sister-in-law, Lady Violet Astor [8208] and her son, the Hon. Hugh Waldorf Astor [2606], in 1925 and again Lady Violet [2445] and her daughter by her first marriage, Margaret Mercer-Nairne [11287], in 1927.^[5] 

Waldorf, 2nd Viscount Astor, was born in New York on 19 May 1879, the eldest son of William Waldorf Astor,^[6] later 1st Viscount Astor, and his wife Mary Dahlgren Paul. He was educated at Eton where he became President of the Eton Literary Society and of the Athletics Society. He went on to New College, Oxford where he gained an M.A. in history and represented the college at polo, steeple chasing and saber fighting. On 3 May 1906 he married Mrs Nancy Witcher Langhorne Shaw (died in 1964), daughter of the late Colonel Chiswell Dabney Langhorne of Virginia, U.S.A., and widow of Robert Gould Shaw. As a wedding present the sitter’s father gave them his house, Cliveden, in Buckinghamshire, overlooking the Thames, built by Sir Charles Barry in 1850. Together they had five children: William Waldorf (born 1907); Nancy Phyllis Louise (born 1909); Francis David Langhorne (born 1912); Michael Langhorne (born 1916) and John Jacob (born 1918).  

Waldorf Astor’s father had bought The Observer newspaper from Lord Northcliffe [4764], but as he lived mainly in Italy, the sitter became the de facto proprietor, especially in matters relating to editorial policy. From 1914 to 1917 Waldorf Astor was temporary Major and Inspector Q.M.G. Services, for the London District. He became M.P. for Plymouth between 1910 and 1918 and for Sutton Division of Plymouth between 1918 and 1919, the same year that he succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Astor of Hever Castle. His wife Nancy Astor was then elected for Sutton Division in 1919, becoming the first female Member of Parliament, for which constituency she remained a sitting member until 1945. Waldorf Astor was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Lloyd George from 1917 to 1918 and he went on to become Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Food and later to the Minister of Health. The Devon Heavy Brigade, Royal Artillery, Territorial Army, made him an Honorary Colonel. In 1934 he became an Honorary Freeman of the City of London and in 1936 of the City of Portsmouth. Between 1935 and 1936 he was the Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, between 1939 and 1944 Lord Mayor of Plymouth and High Steward of Maidenhead. In Plymouth, Astor built a housing estate which bore his name and founded Virginia House, a social centre for women and girls. After the war, during which Plymouth was severely bombed, he was a key figure in planning its reconstruction.  

Waldorf Astor was one of H.M.’s Lieutenants for the City of London. The Chairmanships he took up included: the Departmental Commission of Tuberculosis, the State Medical Research Committee, League of Nations Committee on Nutrition, the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He took a lifelong interest in agriculture and was joint author, with Keith Murray, of Land and Life (1932), and The Planning of Agriculture (1933). In 1938 he published British Agriculture and in 1946 Mixed Farming and Muddled Thinking with the collaboration of B. Seebohm Rowntree. In 1936 Waldorf Astor became chairman of the joint committee of agricultural, economic and health experts appointed by the League of Nations. 

His country seat Cliveden became a week-end rendez-vous for politicians, journalists and dons and in the late thirties the guests who regularly gathered there were called ‘the Cliveden set.’ His London home was at 4 St. James’s Square. One of Astor’s abiding interests throughout his life was racing and his stud farm. From two of his brood mares he bred winners of eleven classic races. Astor was a man born to great wealth and with this came his strong belief in public service. A generous, modest and dedicated man, he was inevitably overshadowed in the public eye by the powerful and vivid personality of his wife.  Like her, he was a Christian Scientist. Lord Astor died on 30 September 1952 at Cliveden and was succeeded by his eldest son, William Waldorf. 

EXHIBITED:        

•The French Gallery, London, A Series of Portraits and Studies by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., June 1924, no. 3

LITERATURE:        

•“Notable Portraits by Philip A. De Laszlo,” The Spur, Vol. XXXVI, No. 7 (1 October 1925), p. 64, ill.

•DLA117-0028, letter from Lady Astor’s secretary to de László, 18 December 1923

•DLA117-0027, letter from Lady Astor’s secretary to de László, 28 December 1923

•DLA117-0025, letter from Lord Astor’s secretary to de László, 4 January 1924

•DLA117-0032, letter from Lord Astor’s secretary to de László, 13 February 1924

•DLA117-0034, letter from Lord Astor’s secretary to de László, 14 February 1924

•DLA117-0039, letter from Lord Astor to de László, 3 April 1924

•DLA117-0020, letter from Lord Astor’s secretary to de László, 19 July 1924

CC 2008