112110

DESTROYED

Preparatory work

Study for the Tiara and Necklace worn by Elisabeth, Queen of Hungary and Empress of Austria 1901

Oil on cardboard, 39.4 x 31.8 cm (15 ½ x 12 ½ in.)

Studio Inventory, p. 78 (418): A Study of Jewellery. This may have been a study for the jewellery in the portrait of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria.

The present sketch was done in preparation for a posthumous full-length portrait of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, executed between 1901 and 1904 [110806]. It portrayed her as Queen of Hungary in the dress made by Worth she wore for her coronation in 1867. The present sketch, a first rejected version of the full-length portrait of the Queen [112108] and another preparatory work [112109] were destroyed in 1947, see [112108].

According to an article from the Pester Lloyd newspaper the sketch can be dated to c. 1901 when de Lászlo started work on the portrait of the Queen.[1] Franz-Josef gave him access to the Empress’s jewellery, and the necklace is visibly the same than the one she wore at her coronation, see related image. It is likely the study is of the “Rose-Collier” diamond necklace, “consisting of 13 rose-shaped designs formed by large-sized brilliants encircled by smaller stones. Further, 11 pendants with exceptionally fine solitaires.”[2]

Although tiaras were often altered, it seems the one de László painted is different from the coronation one, with clusters of five diamond spikes of solitaires in this study, as opposed to three in the photograph of the coronation. Due to the Empress’s thick braids partially covering her tiara, the comparison is rendered even more difficult.

LITERATURE:

•Pester Lloyd, 23 April 1901, p. 6

With our grateful thanks to Timothy F. Boettger for his help with this entry

AG 2011

[1] Pester Lloyd, op. cit., p. 6

[2] Guide to the Treasury of the Imperial House of Austria in the Imperial and Royal Palace in Vienna, 1906, Case XIII, p. 75. It is noted on the same page that “the greater number of the gems used for this jewelry formed a portion of the bridal-set (called the Esclavage) which was presented to the Empress Maria Theresa as a marriage-gift, by her mother-in-law the Duchess Elizabeth Varoline of Lorraine. […] The necklace, together with the ear-rings, were deposited in the Treasury by the Empress Maria Theresa on 14 December 1765.”