6102

Preparatory work

Lady Ludlow, née Alice Sedgwick Mankiewicz, previously Lady Wernher 1923

Standing three-quarter length to the right, full face to the viewer, wearing a black-off-the shoulder gown with pale chiffon sleeves, pearl drop earrings and a two-strand pearl necklace, her left hand rests on a table with a vase of flowers on it, all against a dark background

Oil on board, 40 x 33 cm (16 x 13 in.)

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 38: Alice Ludlow  Oct 9th 1923

Studio Inventory, p. 63 (330): Study, Lady Ludlow

Private Collection

In 1924 the artist painted a three-quarter-length portrait of the sitter [6780], for which this is a preparatory study. The dress differs dramatically from the finished portrait and from a second preparatory study [112535] where her fitted gown is depicted in yellow fabric, as it is in the finished work..

De László first painted the sitter in 1916, when Lady Wernher, and that portrait remains in the collection of a descendant of the sitter [6784]. De László also painted Lady Wernher's daughter-in-law Countess Zia Torby in 1913 [12637] and 1917 [1954].

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [6784].

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

Presented to Miss Ilona Schultz under the gifts clause of the artist’s will, 13 July 1939

KF 2022