6190

Viscount and Viscountess Lee of Fareham 1925

Lady Lee seated in a high-backed chair to the left and in front of the fireplace, a book open on her lap, her feet resting on a footstool, Lord Lee standing at the right hand side of the fireplace, studying papers with a magnifying glass, with old master paintings above the fireplace and around the room

Oil on canvas, 79.4 x 104.8 cm (31 ¼ x 41 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László 1925   

Inscribed verso: As a token of devotion / to Arthur & Ruth / for / their silver / Wedding / 1925 / from Philip

Laib L14954 (531) / C15 (14): Lord Lee (Interior)

NPG Album 1919-25, p. 15

Courtauld Gallery, London

This would seem to be the last of some ten paintings and drawings that de László made of the Lee family over the years 1907 to 1925. He painted it as a gift to the couple on the occasion of their silver wedding.^[1] 

Having already portrayed Lord and Lady Lee just before they left Chequers in January 1921 [6186], de László painted the couple in an interior again, this time at their house at 18 Kensington Palace Gardens. The Lees’ bequest of Chequers to the Nation included their collection of fine art and furniture, carefully chosen and acquired by Lord Lee. Within the five years that elapsed between their departure and the time when the present work was painted, he had already collected a considerable number of pictures and fine pieces. Arthur Balfour [2707], a mutual friend of the Lees and de László, told Lord Lee about his gift: “you have done it in order to have the pleasure of collecting all over again.”^[2] 

Lord Lee’s connoisseurship is reflected in the present portrait, which shows the couple surrounded by old master paintings: to the right of Lord Lee hangs the portrait of Edward VI, then attributed to Holbein,^[3] and above the mantelpiece a triptych of the Virgin and child with two angels, between St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Lucy.^[4] Further to the left on the same wall is a painting of the Virgin and Child by an anonymous Bruges master, whilst its pendant, a portrait of the donor who commissioned the work, can be seen on the adjoining wall, bottom right.^[5] Immediately above is a portrait of a man by Joos van Cleve.^[6] The large painting further to the left has not yet been identified. While in his 1920 double portrait, de László depicted the couple in the Hawtrey room, at the historical heart of Chequers and amongst the Hawtreys’ historical portraits and tapestries, the artist here represented them as collectors, surrounded by their own acquisitions.

Six years later, in 1931, Thomas C. Dugdale painted other major benefactors of the Courtauld Institute in a similar fashion: Sir Robert and Lady Witt, surrounded by their collection, at 32 Portman Square.^[7] 

In 1921, de László had also executed an intimate portrait of Lady Lee’s sister, Faith Moore, at Chequers [6112], and he started another portrait of her at home, full-length, with her three adopted sons, which remained unfinished [3629].

Considering that the artist painted relatively few portraits in interiors, and usually reserved these for the depiction of his own family, this series may be seen as a testimony of de László’s close friendship with the Lees. On the other hand, with Arthur Lee’s flair and connoisseurship, it is possible that his commissions or compositional suggestions to de László were very specific, and also that he had seen and particularly appreciated his private collection of family portraits in interior settings. Lee was a great support to de László during his internment, at a time when he was working in this genre [10449].

For biographical notes on Arthur Lee, see [11019], and for notes on Lady Lee, [6184].

PROVENANCE:

Bequeathed to the Courtauld Institute Galleries by Lady Lee in 1966

EXHIBITED:          

•M. Knoedler and Co., New York, Portraits by P.A. de László, M.V.O., 19-31 October 1925, no. 17

•The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Special Exhibition of Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., 5- 27 December 1925, no. 7

•Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Special Exhibition of Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., 31 December 1925-10 January 1926, no. 7

•French Gallery, London, A Series of Portraits and Studies by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., June 1927, no. 34

•Hôtel Charpentier, Paris, Exposition P.A. László, June 1931, no. 22

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 359

•Clifford, Derek, The Paintings of P. A. de Laszlo, London, 1969, monochrome ill. pl. 37:  Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham at Chequers [sic]

CC 2008