11778

Still Life

Pink Peonies in a Dark Blue Vase 1925

Still life of pink peonies in a dark blue vase, on a polished wood table, against a dark background

Oil on panel, 76 x 56.5 cm (30 x 22 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower left: To LUCY . 1925. VI . 7. / de László   

Laib L11764(111) / C32(22)  Flower Study

NPG Album, 1927-28, p. 30

Private Collection

This composition is dated on what was the artist’s silver wedding anniversary and dedicated to his wife Lucy. De László’s career was already exceeding the success of the pre-war years, having recovered from the dark days of his internment from 1917 until his exoneration in 1919 (see [5231]). In 1925, something of an annus mirabilis, he painted more than 70 portraits in oil, including those of the Duchess of York [4460], the Duchess of Portland [4423], Princess Helen of Romania [4221], Mrs Harold Coolidge, the wife of the American President [4178], His Excellency Frank Billings Kellogg [5917], the Maharani of Cooch Behar [4159] and the Queen of the Belgians [7870]. Thus he had little time for personal painting and was not to produce another still life until 1932.

In early June the artist and his wife made a much anticipated visit to Hungary, where some of his paintings were exhibited at the Nemzeti Szalon in Budapest, but their trip was cut short. Their youngest son, John, developed appendicitis with complications and as soon as they arrived in Hungary they had to hurry straight back home. They could get no news en route but found the boy recovering in a nursing home in Brighton^[1] on their return. The exhibition was very well received in Hungary but we know from his correspondence how disappointed de László was not to have been there.  

The picture remained in the artist’s collection in his home until his death.

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

Patrick de Laszlo, his fourth son;

By descent in the family

LITERATURE

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 192

 SdeL & SMdeL