5841

Jerome Klapka Jerome 1921

Seated half-length, full face to the viewer, with his right elbow resting on the arm of his chair, his right hand to his chin, wearing a pale overcoat, left unbuttoned, over a white pullover

Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 41.1 cm (35 ½ x 27 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1921. I.

Laib L10059 (140) / C13 (32): Jerome K. Jerome

NPG 1917-21 Album, f. 129

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 18: Jerome K. Jerome Nov. 11th

National Portrait Gallery, London

During the First World War, when de László was arrested and subsequently interned on suspicion of being a potential risk to public safety, Jerome K. Jerome attempted to gather support amongst de László’s peers and to create a petition, which, despite his best efforts, failed. He remained a faithful friend to the artist throughout his life.

In his autobiography, Jerome K. Jerome wrote: “Solomon J. Solomon had his studio off Marlborough Road. He was, I think, the first artist to paint by electric light - a useful accomplishment in foggy London. He started to paint my portrait once, while staying with us at Pangbourne, but complained I had too many faces. At one moment I looked a murderer and the next a saint, according to him ... De László had the same trouble with me ... but got over it by luring me to talk about myself. In his portrait of me there is a touch of the enthusiast.”^[1]

The rejected first version by de László was not destroyed and shows a more intimidating likeness of Jerome, in semi-profile to the right [5842]. De László’s technique of drawing the broad outline of the figure with his brush directly onto the canvas, obvious in the unfinished version, is also visible here, notably in the treatment of Jerome’s right sleeve, the black contour of which stands out clearly. The pullover and overcoat were clearly executed at great speed, in fluid brushstrokes of pale grey-blue and yellow on cream, to indicate the folds of the fabric.

Jerome Klapka Jerome was born in Walsall in 1859, the eldest son of Jerome Clapp Jerome, a non-conformist lay preacher and Staffordshire coalmine owner. He was educated at the Philological School (later Marylebone Grammar School), and spent his early working years in some poverty, firstly as a hack journalist, then working as a railway clerk, a secretary in a building company and finally in a solicitor’s office. His early writing was done in the evenings until late at night. Jerome K. Jerome was best known for his novel Three Men in a Boat (1889), but had many other publications besides. In 1888 he married Georgina Henrietta Stanley Marris, daughter of Lieutenant George Nesza, with whom he had a daughter, Rowena. He was editor of The Idler (1892-7) and of To-Day (1893-97). His final work, My Life and Times, An Autobiography, was published in 1926, a year before his death.

PROVENANCE:

Bequeathed by Mrs J. K. Jerome, the widow of the sitter, to the National Portrait Gallery in 1966 in accordance with the sitter’s wishes of 1938

EXHIBITED:        

•The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, Paintings by Philip A. de László, 26 February-20 March, 1921, no. 13

•M. Knoedler and Co., New York. Paintings by Philip A. de László, 4-16 April 1921, no. 18

•National Portrait Gallery, London, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, 1996-1997, no. 114

•National Portrait Gallery, Philip de László: A Special Display, 27 March- 5 September 2010, no. 2

LITERATURE:

•Town and Country, New York, Paris, London: The Stuyvesant Company, 10 March 1921, vol. 77, no. 3830, p. 30, ill.

•The Bookman, Christmas 1926

•Chronique des Arts, supplément de la Société des Beaux Arts, February 1967, ill;

•Jerome, Jerome K., My Life and Times: An Autobiography, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1983, p. 95

•Simon, Jacob The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, National Portrait Gallery Publications, 1996, pp. 108, 184-5, ill., pl. 117, p. 109

•Corbeau-Parsons, Caroline, Philip de László, Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2010, pp. 7-8, ill. pl. 2

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, ill. 91

•Hart-Davis, Duff, László Fülöp élete és festészete [Philip de László's Life and Painting], Corvina, Budapest, 2019, ill. 116

We are grateful to the National Portrait Gallery in London for their support. The image above should not be reproduced without prior written permission from the National Portrait Gallery, London

CC 2008