4859

Tibor de Scitovszky 1927
Half-length to the left, looking to the right, wearing díszmagyar, with the blue sash and the badge of the Finnish Order of the White Rose, and from left to right, the Imperial Order of the Iron Crown, the Knight’s Cross of the Imperial Order of Francis Joseph, the Hungarian Bronze Medal of Merit with the Holy Crown and the Jubilee Medal for civilians, 1898, his left hand at his belt, holding a jewelled hat in his right hand
Oil on canvas, 99 x 73.7 cm (39 x 29 in.)
Inscribed lower left: de László / PARIZ / 1927

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 57: Scitovszky Tibor / Paris, 927. X. 2.-

Private Collection

De László painted pendant portraits of Tibor Scitovszky and his wife in Paris, October 1927, on his return to London from Budapest where he painted many important Hungarians including: Regent Horthy [5684]; Madame Horthy [10456]; Prime Minister, Count István Bethlen [2487] and his wife [10458] and the commander of the Royal Bodyguard, Major Máté-Törék [10498].

In 1925 the Scitovszkys built a villa in neo-baroque style in the hills of Buda. Much of its antique French furniture was acquired from France by Madame de Scitovszky. When they left for the United States in 1946 they leased the villa to the British Government for use as the residence of the British Ambassador. It was expropriated by the Hungarian State after the family decided to remain in America and the British Government continued to lease it until they purchased it in 1964. It is used as the British Ambassador’s residence to this day.^[1] In 1933 and 1934 the de Lászlós were invited to stay with the Scitovszkys^[2] but they only travelled to Budapest in 1935, when they visited for dinner: “We dinner with the Scitovsky’s in their splendid House with the very best taste - of which I saw none equaly beautiful - from every point of view perfect in style & only very good thinks in it  - was pleased to see my two fine portraits of them painted some 8 years ago in Paris.”^[3]

Tibor Scitovszky de Nagykér was born in Nőtincs in the county of Nógrád on 21 June 1875, the son of János de Scitovszky (1850-1903), Vice Lord Lieutenant of Nógrád and a Member of Parliament, and his wife, Eugénia Szitányi de Szitány (1850-1934). The Scitovszky family were of Polish origin, but were ennobled in Hungary in 1835. The sitter studied at the universities of Budapest and Paris. As undersecretary in the Ministry of Commerce he served as an economic advisor to the Hungarian delegation at the peace negotiations at Trianon that followed the First World War. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from November 1924 to March 1925, in the government of Count István Bethlen. He then became president of the Magyar Általános Hitelbank [Hungarian General Bank of Credit], and in 1927 he became a member of the Upper House of Parliament. He married Katalin Hódosi (1886-1977) and they had a son, Tibor (1910-2002), who emigrated to the United States and became a celebrated economist and professor of economics at Stanford and later at Berkeley. In 1946 the sitter and his wife went to visit their son in the United States and did not return to Hungary. His bank was nationalised by the communist government in 1948. He died in Los Angeles on 12 April 1959.

The sitter’s younger brother, Béla Scitovszky (1878-1959) was Minister of the Interior 1926-1931. He sold his estate near Balassagyarmat (95 km. from Budapest) to the Hubay family, who were old friends of de László.^[4] In 1935 Madame Jenő de Hubay [4825] tried to persuade de László to buy the estate: “The park and the chateau are very nice. It is ideal for a summer’s stay and for a rest.”^[5]  This did not come to fruition as the artist suffered a serious heart attack.^[6] 

PROVENANCE:
By descent in the family;
Woodside Priory School, California;
Private collection;

Sold Sotheby’s New York, 26 May 1993, lot 293, as a pair with the portrait of the sitter’s wife
Private collection;
Sold at Christie’s, New York, 30 April 2019, lot 82

EXHIBITED:
•Budapest, Országos Magyar Képzőművészeti Társulat [Hungarian Fine Art Society] Téli kiállítás [Winter Exhibition], December 1927 - February 1928, no. 25

•Budapest, Nemzeti Szalon Jubileumi Kiállítás [National Salon Jubilee Exhibition], 5-20 October 1935, no.71

LITERATURE:
•Az Est, 28 November 1927
•Pesti Naplό, Vasárnap, 18 December 1927, ill.
•Pester Lloyd, 18 December 1927
•Magyarság, 18 December 1927
•Scitovszky, Tibor, Egy büszke magyar emlėkiratai [The Memoirs of a Proud Hungarian], Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány, Budapest, 1997
•Verrasztó, Gábor, Budai Polgár. A második kerület lapja [Citizen of Buda. The newspaper of the second district], on line 20 May 2016

•Hart-Davis, Duff, László Fülöp élete és festészete [Philip de László's Life and Painting], Corvina, Budapest, 2019, p. 283

•DLA030-0011, letters fromTibor de Scitovszky to de László, 10 December 1927 and 19 August 1928
•DLA043-0027, letter from Mme. Dezső Seeemann to de László, 19 December 1927
•DLA043-0017, letter from Marczell László to de László, 20 December 1927
•DLA030-0012, letter from Gyula Máté-Törék to de László, 7 February 1928
•DLA035-0118, letter from Tibor de Scitovszky to de László, 9 March 1934

•DLA162-0085, Kézdi-Kovács, László, “Arcképfestészet. Reprezentatív kiállítás a Nemzeti Szalonban” [Portrait Painting. Representative Exhibition at the National Salon], Pesti Hírlap, 5 October 1935, p. 8
•DLA036-0080, letter from Mme. Jenő de Hubay to de László, 13 November 1935
•DLA037-0005, letter from de László to Mme. de Hubay, 15 September 1936

•DLA162-0288, Pesti Hírlap, 18 December 1927, p. 7  
•László, Philip de, 1933 diary, private collection, 15 November entry
•László, Philip de, 1935 diary, private collection, 14 March entry
•László, Philip de, June toNovember 1935 diary, private collection, 14 October entry
•László, Philip de, June to November 1935 diary, private collection, 24 October entry


We are grateful to Dr. Gergely Sallay of the Hadtörténeti Múzeum (War Museum) of Budapest for identifying the sitter’s decorations.

Pd’O & BS 2019