3890
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India 1913
Seated three-quarter length slightly to the right in his robes as Chancellor of Oxford University, his right hand to his chin, with his elbow resting on the arm of his chair, his left hand holding a bound copy of Statuta Universitatis Oxoniensis on his knee, a dark blue curtain behind
Oil on canvas, 118.1 x 96.5 cm (46 ½ x 38 in.)
Inscribed lower left: P. A. de László. / 1913 / MAR
Inscribed to left: EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTON / CHANCELLOR / OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY
Sitters’ Book I, f. 92: Curzon of Kedleston / March 15. 1913
The Warden and Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
Lord Curzon commissioned this portrait from de László to present to All Souls College in his capacity as Chancellor of Oxford University, which gave the artist the opportunity to represent his sitter in all the splendour of his robes. In a portrait otherwise dominated by black and dark brown hues, de László has offset the figure by using a deep golden yellow in combination with its complementary colour, a brilliant cobalt blue, for the curtain in the background, subtly echoed in the book he holds in his hands, a copy of the University Statutes. Extremely fine touches of this same blue in his gown show off the silken material. An entry in Lucy de László’s diary indicates that the artist’s honorarium for this portrait was £420.[1]
There exist two authorised copies of the present portrait, by Frederick Cullen at Balliol College, Oxford [3887], and Sydney Percy Kendrick at School Hall, Eton College [3893]. At the time of painting the present portrait, in March 1913, de László also made a head-and-shoulders study which he gave to the sitter as a ‘souvenir’ [3895]. The following year Lord Curzon was painted by Sargent.
George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, born in 1859, was the eldest son and heir of Baron Scarsdale. Having excelled at Eton, he failed to take a first in classics at Balliol College, Oxford, but his brilliance subsequently gained him a fellowship of All Souls in 1884. A man of great self-confidence, Lord Curzon’s unshakeable faith in his own infallibility earned him the unfortunate reputation for unapproachability and pomposity, but his energy and ability and his courage in the face of bitter disappointments stamp him as one of the outstanding figures of the century. Lord Curzon was part of an exclusive coterie of wealthy, bright, and artistic people, “The Souls”, including A.J. Balfour, Ettie Grenfell, later Lady Desborough, Violet Duchess of Rutland, Margot Asquith, and ten members of the Wyndham family. The sitter had a vital interest in architecture. He most notably restored Bodiam and Tattershall Castles which he donated to the National Trust. Lord Curzon was also Trustee of the National Gallery and the British Museum and President of the Royal Geographical Society.
He entered politics as M.P. for Southport in 1886 and the following year began extensive travels in the East. He became Under Secretary of State for India in 1891 and, from 1895, Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, until 1898. The same year, at the age of thirty-nine, he was made Viceroy of India and accepted an Irish barony so as not to be barred from the House of Commons by an English peerage. Disagreements brought on by his dynamic regime forced his resignation and return to England in 1905, where he found himself in the political wilderness, devoting himself to art and archaeology and to the question of university reform, hence his holding the copy of Statuta Universitatis Oxoniensis in de László’s portrait. In 1907 he was elected Chancellor of Oxford University and Honorary Fellow of Balliol College.
In 1911 he was made Earl Curzon of Kedleston. In 1915 he returned to politics as Lord Privy Seal and was Lord President of the Council and member of the War Cabinet from 1916 until 1919. He fulfilled his ambition of becoming Foreign Secretary (1919-24), but was thwarted in his hopes for the premiership by the selection of Stanley Baldwin in 1923. From 1916 to 1924 he was Leader of the House of Lords. He was created a Marquess in 1921.
In 1895 he married Mary Victoria Leiter from Chicago and Washington, who died in 1906. There were three daughters of the marriage: Mary Irene, later Baroness Ravensdale of Kedleston (born 1896), Lady Cynthia Blanche (born 1898), and Lady Alexandra Naldera (born 1904).
For some years Curzon’s name was linked with that of Elinor Glyn, he having fallen for her in July 1908 when he saw her playing in a production of the dramatisation of her novel Three Weeks at the Adelphi Theatre in London. He introduced her to de László so that he should paint her portrait in 1914 [5361], telling him that he wanted a regal picture and that de László could ‘make a splendid thing of her, with her white skin, dark eyebrows, green eyes and Venetian red hair’. By all accounts Curzon was pleased with the outcome. Nevertheless in 1917 he married Grace Duggan [3015], widow of Alfred Duggan of Buenos Aires. The Curzons lived life to the full, interacting in political, literary and artistic circles and dividing their time between their several homes at Carlton House Terrace, Kedleston, Hackwood Park, and Montacute. Curzon died of complications following a haemorrhage in March 1925. He was much decorated: a KG, PC, GCSI, and a GCIE. His widow survived him until 1958. This second marriage was childless.
PROVENANCE:
Presented to All Souls College, Oxford by the sitter
EXHIBITED:
•Agnew’s, London, Exhibition of Portraits by Philip A. László, M.V.O., June-July 1913, no. 2
•Christie’s, King Street, London, A Brush with Grandeur, 6-22 January 2004, no. 54
LITERATURE:
•Vita d’Arte, sixth year, vol. XII, October 1913, no. 70, p. 118, ill.
•Williams, Oakley, ed., Selections from the Work of P.A. de László, Hutchinson, London, 1921, pp. 221, 197-200, ill. facing p. 196
•Poole, Mrs. Reginald Lane. Catalogue of Portraits in the Possession of The University, Colleges, City and County of Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1912-1925, Part II, vol. III, pp. 203-4
•Zetland, The Marquess of, The Life of Lord Curzon: Being the Authorized Biography of George Nathaniel, Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, 1928, p. 89
•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 278
•Abdy, Jane, The Souls, London, 1984, p. 29
•Cannadine, David, The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy, 2nd ed., Picador, London, 1992, ill. pl. 112
•Innes-Smith, Robert, “Lord Curzon and the Souls”, in Derbyshire Life and Countryside, November 2001, pp. 68-9
•De Laszlo, Sandra, ed., & Christopher Wentworth-Stanley, asst. ed., A Brush with Grandeur, Paul Holberton Publishing, London 2004, p. 119, ill.
•Field, Katherine ed., Transcribed by Susan de Laszlo, The Diaries of Lucy de László Volume I: (1890-1913), de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 211, ill.
•DLA162-0135, Pesti Hírlap, 9 January 1913, p. 10
•László, Lucy de, 1913 diary, private collection, p. 58; p. 149
CC & CWS 2008
[1] László, Lucy de, 1913 diary, op. cit., p. 149