3220

Preparatory work

King Carol II of Romania 1936

Standing three-quarter length slightly to the left looking to the viewer, wearing full dress uniform with decorations and a cape over his shoulders, holding a plumed hat in the crook of his left arm, his hand on his hip

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

Indistinctly inscribed lower left: ... / King Carol / 1936 Bukrest Royal Palace / II 20 / de L [incised into paint]  

Verso inscribed: The first study after ... / of King Carol II of Roumania / for his ... portrait / Bukrest 936 / II 27

Sitters’ Book II, f. 86: Carol / R / Bucharest Feb. - March 1936

Studio Inventory, p. 54 (277): H.M. King Carol of Roumania. Study for the portrait painted in Roumania in the year 1936

Private Collection

De László completed this oil sketch in preparation for the finished three-quarter length portrait of King Carol II [4220]. The artist used these sketches to determine composition and colour and he has deviated very little from this conception in the completed work. The study remained in the artist’s studio until his death. The artist also painted two study portraits of the sitter during his visit, one in naval uniform [3222] and an informal portrait in hunting attire [3225], both of which remain untraced.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [4220].

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

By descent in the family

LITERATURE:

•De László letters to Queen Marie of Romania, dated 1 and 12 March 1936, Arhivele Nationale, Bucureşti, fond Regina Maria personale, V4673 & V467

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 76-77

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 268

•Ion, Narcis Dorin, Carol Al ii-lea al României: Un Rege Controversat [Carol II of Romania, A Controversial King], vol. 5, Editura Măiastra, Târgu Jiu, 2021, p. 8, ill.

SMdeL & KF 2014