111346

POSTHUMOUS

King Albert I of Belgium 1934

Head and shoulders slightly to the left, full face to the viewer, wearing service dress

Oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm (28 ¾ x 25 ⅝ in.)

Royal Collection of Belgium

This is one of three posthumous portraits of King Albert that de László painted in 1934, after the King suffered a fatal climbing accident. The present portrait was painted from a photograph sent to de László in London by the King’s widow Queen Elisabeth [7870].

The artist began work in his studio and noted in his diary 19 May 1943: “During the morning painted with the help of a photo done immediately after the war of King Albert of the Belgians – for the Queen Elisabeth. I do it to please this unfortunate fine woman who had such happy life with a fine man of high principals [sic] … it is against my feelings – principals [sic] to do such work – at 12 30 the Belgian Embassador [sic] came nice fellow – with little feeling for art – but his suggestion to leave it & work with the help of the Queens suggestion is the right view.^[1]

De László travelled to the royal palace at Laeken in May 1934 and painted two portraits there [7864] [7867]. All three were kept by the Queen and remain in the Royal Collection of Belgium.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [7864].

PROVENANCE:

Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, wife of the sitter

Her son, Prince Charles;

Royal Collection of Belgium, 1983

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 374-5

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 202

•László, Philip de, 1934 diary, private collection

KF 2020