13562

Preparatory work

John Adolphus de Laszlo, Drawing at a Table 1919

Seated on the edge of his chair, full length and at a table, drawing in the sketchbook before him, wearing a dressing gown over short trousers and long socks

Graphite on paper, 37.5 x 27.5 cm (14 ¾ x 10 ¾  in.)

Inscribed lower left:  Johnny / 1919 III. 15 / P. A. de L.

Inscribed lower right: John / 1919 

Studio Inventory, p. 136 (14): John

Private Collection

This is the second of two preparatory studies for The First Drawing Lesson [11772]. Whereas the first was half-length [8666], and close in composition to a previous portrait of John [11622], here, de László’s son is shown full-length, almost in profile to the left. He is carefully observing and drawing a steaming cup of tea set up on a box before him. In The First Drawing Lesson, the teacup is replaced by a 16th century Spanish Madonna. This preparatory work only focuses on the central figure of the resulting painting, but de László only slightly altered the picture content and the attitude of the boy in the final composition.

A. L. Baldry [3562], in the Studio Magazine, noted of a small selection of drawings of this period, including the present one: “how well the habit of close and intimate observation and of sound appreciation of realities can be allied with thorough consideration for line quality and a sound sense of decorative arrangement, how correctness of subject record can be retained without a loss of directness and spontaneity, and how subtleties of characterization can be expressed without making them overemphatic.”^[1]

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [11622].

PROVENANCE:  

In the possession of the artist on his death

LITERATURE:

•Baldry, Alfred, “Paintings and Drawings by Mr. de László”, in The Studio Magazine, London, February 1921, Vol. LXXXI (81), n° 335, Article pp. 44-57, ill. p. 46

CC 2011