8650

Mrs Philip de László, née Lucy Madeleine Guinness 1919

Seated three-quarter length slightly to the left playing the violin, wearing a shawl, a flowing cream dress with long full sleeves, a corsage of mauve flowers at her breast, earrings, an aquamarine ring with gold wedding band and a gold bracelet

Oil on canvas, 84 x 61 cm (33 x 24 in.)

Inscribed lower right: 1919 May 19 / de László

Verso inscribed by the artist:  Copy of the Gallery of Modern / Art in / Rome picture 

Private Collection

Lucy de László was an accomplished violinist and the depiction of her with her instrument is a recurring theme in the artist’s oeuvre. The earliest composition [11474] was painted in 1902,  in the first years of their marriage, while on holiday in Rothéneuf, Brittany. Conceived as a finished three-quarter length in a landscape, it was presented by Lucy to the Hugh Lane Art Gallery in Dublin, the city of her birth. In 1905 de László painted a smaller finished half-length [6765] which focused on her face and the position of her hands as she played. In 1907 that portrait won the Gold Medal in the International Exhibition in Venice and was purchased by the Italian Government for the Modern Art Gallery in Rome.

The present portrait was painted some fourteen years later and under very different circumstances. It was identified by de László as a copy of the Rome portrait though it differs slightly in its depiction of the figure and perspective. It is a sensitive portrait reminiscent of happier times. The artist was arrested in September 1917 under the Defense of the Realm Act and imprisoned in Brixton and then an internment camp in Islington. His health broke down and by the time this portrait was painted he was living with his family under house-arrest at Littleworth Corner in  Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, the home of his solicitor Sir Charles Russell [6657].

The artist was limited to pencil and watercolour between September 1917 and May 1918 and the period until his release in June 1919 was one of intense creativity for the artist. Released from the demands of portrait painting his family were his models. Another portrait of Lucy with her violin in the interior of Littleworth Corner was painted at Easter 1919 [11044].

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [11474].

PROVENANCE:  

In possession of the artist on his death;

Paul Leonardo de Laszlo, his third son;

KF 2024