6931

Frederick Sleigh, Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar 1911

Half-length to the left, looking to the right, wearing blue dress uniform and decorations

Oil on canvas, 87.7 x 69.9 cm (34 ½ x 27 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower left: P.A. László / 1911 . Ascot 

Sitters’ Book I, opp. f. 91:  Roberts. / FM  “  “  [below the signature of his wife dated 25 October 1911]

Private Collection

De László painted four portraits during his six-day stay with Lord and Lady Roberts at their home near Ascot in October 1911. He made a preparatory oil sketch [6925] and completed the full-length [6924] for the Eton College South African Memorial Buildings, as well as a half-length of the sitter’s wife [111530]. De László later arranged for one of his authorized copyists, Frank Cullen, to paint a copy of the present work, which now hangs in the hall of the Naval & Military Club in St. James’s Square, London [6929].^[1] 

Lord Devonport commissioned the present portrait. He was a great friend and admirer of the artist and supported him throughout his career in England. He was a member of Lloyd George's War Cabinet and commissioned de László to paint portraits of two other of his friends and colleagues, David Lloyd George, M.P. [6076] and Timothy Healy, K.C. [5579].  

The artist has shown the sitter wearing his Coronation medal, awarded for the coronation of George V in July of that year.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [6924].

EXHIBITED:  

•The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Annual International Exhibition, 1913, no. 114

•The Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art, Glasgow, Annual Exhibition, 1914, no. 242

•Sheffield, 1914^[2]

•The Fine Art Society, London, Portraits of British Commanders Taking Part in the War on Sea and Land, 1915

PROVENANCE:

•László, Lucy de, 1911 diary, private collection

KF 2012