7801

Study portrait

Constantine I of Greece, King of the Hellenes 1914

Half-length in three-quarter profile to the right, wearing military uniform

Oil on canvas, 100 x 70.1 cm (39 ⅝ x 27 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower left: P A de László / Athens 1914 V.I.   

Laib  L6844 (838) / C10(30)  King George II of Greece

NPG 1913-15 Album, p. 8

NPG 1913-15 Album, p. 45

Sitters’ Book I, f. 97: Constantine R / Athen [sic] 1 / 14 April 1914

Private Collection

This is one of two study portraits together with a formal three-quarter length [11591] de László completed of King Constantine during his visit to Athens in spring 1914. De László was invited to Greece to paint portraits of members of the royal family and on that visit he completed two of the King’s mother, Queen Olga [11592] [7794], a study portrait of Prince George [7811] and one of Princess Cecilie [111496], daughter of Prince Andrew [6622].

This study portrait is highly finished which suggests it was a commission rather than a gift from de László, as was probably the case with the slighter composition of the second study portrait [7801]. This portrait has the stamp on the verso of Queen Sofia, wife of King Constantine, so may have been painted for her.    

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [11591].

PROVENANCE:

Queen Sofia of Greece

LITERATURE:

•Costis, Christini, Souvenirs of the Court of George I, Athens 1949, p. 96

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 138

•Field, Katherine, Philip Alexius de László; 150th Anniversary Exhibition, de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 52

KF 2017