11848

Preparatory work

Anne Mabel Olivia Trouton 1910

Half-length in three-quarter profile to the left and looking to the viewer, wearing a straw hat over a frilled cap, a blue jacket over a dress and holding a basket in both hands in front of her

Oil on board, 68.6 x 61 cm (27 x 24 in.)

Inscribed lower right: Study P. A. de L. / 1915

Private Collection

This picture is a study for one of de László’s most successful child portraits, painted in 1910 [11580]. It shows how radically he changed his mind regarding the composition, as in the finished picture the sitter is seated facing right, with the basket of flowers on her lap. Her costume remains the same, indicating the artist had already decided on 18th century style costume before choosing the final composition.

The date of 1915 on the picture is misleading: a son of the sitter recalls that she always described this as having been a preparatory work for the finished picture. A family photograph taken that year, also shows Anne looking much more mature than in the present picture. It seems probable that the artist gave the present picture to the family in 1910 and inscribed it in 1915, when he was drawing the sitter’s brother Frederick [7519] at Melbreck, their country house near Tilford in Surrey.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [11580].

PROVENANCE:

By descent in the family

KF 2018