6780

Lady Ludlow, née Alice Sedgwick Mankiewicz, previously Lady Wernher 1924

Standing three quarter length, slightly to the right, head turned and looking to the left, wearing a yellow evening gown, her left hand resting on a marble-topped table, a vase of flowers and a book beside her

Oil on canvas, 169 x 99.5 cm (66 ½ x 39 ¼ in.)

Inscribed upper left: de László / 1924

Laib L15050 (870) / C16 (6)

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 38: Alice Ludlow Oct 9th 1923

The Wernher Collection, Ranger’s House, London

De László first painted the sitter as the widowed Countess Wernher in 1916 [6784]. By the time this portrait was painted six years later she had already remarried and lost her second husband 2nd Baron Ludlow in a hunting accident. The artist made two preparatory studies for the present picture [112535][6102]. He also painted Lady Wernher's daughter-in-law, Countess Zia Torby in 1913 [12637] [12640] and 1917 [1954].  

The artist’s appointment diary indicates that Lady Ludlow attended the studio for half an hour on 26 September, probably to discuss her dress and the composition of the portrait. Sittings began on Monday 8 October and continued every day that week and again on 23, 24 October. This is an unusually large number of sittings and is reflected in the high degree of finish in this work. Though dated 1924 there is no indication that she sat again for the artist after October. It is possible that the portrait remained in the artist’s studio until after New Year as de László spent most of November and December 1923 in Italy painting Mussolini [6383] and in Paris painting comtesse Rochefort [9564].

De László's wife Lucy noted in a letter to their son Paul: “Lady Ludlow is being painted now – She has a special ‘coiffeur’ over from Paris for a week to do up her hair!!” An article in The Sketch reveals that the portrait was hung in the tapestried dining room at Bath House, Lady Ludlow’s London home.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [6784].

PROVENANCE:

Sold at Sotheby’s, 16 March 1977, lot 205;

Sold at Christie’s, 11 December 2014, lot 36;

Private Collection

LITERATURE:

DLA095-0043, The Sketch, 24 December 1924

KF 2022