11621

Mrs Philip de László, née Lucy Madeleine Guinness 1918

Seen from behind, half-length before a mirror, wearing a midnight blue jacket over a white frilled shirt, a hat decorated with mauve ostrich feathers, a white glove on her right hand, drop earrings and a two-stranded coral necklace with a tassel which she holds in her right hand, her left hand raised to her chin and her left elbow resting on the flat marble surface before the mirror in which can be seen her reflection, full face

Oil on canvas, 71.1 x 57.8 cm (28 x 22 ¾ in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László / 1918 August.   

Laib L10120 (622) / C18 (13A): Mrs. de Laszlo

NPG 1917-21 Album, p. 50

Private Collection

At the time this portrait was painted, de László was under house arrest in a nursing home at Ladbroke Gardens, following a nervous breakdown at Holloway, where he was interned for more than six months. Having been deprived of his paints during that time, he was now free to paint again. This picture was amongst the first he executed after his incarceration and it bears testimony to de László’s burst of creativity and thirst to paint.

With its elaborate composition, infused with sunlight and jewel-like colours, Lucy’s portrait is characteristic of this artistic period, during which de László particularly focused on the treatment of light and its reflections, producing intimate scenes in interiors.

On 1st June 1918, Lucy noted in her diary: “Have had since 3 o’clock with P. painted at my picture [sic], which was begun about 5 days ago. I’m looking in the mirror over mantle-shelf – a white marble one. It glows warm atmosphere – the reflexion [sic] of the sun – It’s v. French – v. del.[ighted] with it.”^[1] 

The treatment of natural light had indeed been a preoccupation of the French school, especially from the last quarter of the nineteenth century, but perhaps Lucy also had in mind the subject of the painting itself, reminiscent of Ingres and his “mirror portraits” of Madame Moitessier,^[2] Comtesse d’Haussonville,^[3] and Madame de Senonnes.^[4] However, like Rubens’s Venus and Velásquez’s Rockeby Venus Lucy is seen from behind.

Lucy’s diary suggests that the portrait was completed on 13 and 14 August: “Laczi [her nickname for her husband] painted at my looking glass picture this after: the face in glass wanted clearing… He finished it, + was v. [indistinct] to find he had made a mistake in drawing in the neck.”^[5] The following day, she noted: “Laczi finished my beautiful picture – It is lovely, I never thought he wd be so successful with me - - He had to finish my neck and blouse & blue coat - & gave my hair a few final fair touches… lightened (grey tone) the background a little. He signed it I looking on – I asked him to put simply “de Laszlo” which he did – He said shall I put “to Lucy” I said no- - just de L –Mine is the 2d pic: he has signed thus – Lady Percy’s was the first.”^[6]

Lady Percy’s portrait [6841], painted in 1916, was in fact simply signed “László.” It is not quite clear what significance he or Lucy attributed to that simpler signature (it was at that time the artist’s habit to sign “P.A. de László”). It is possible that he reserved it for paintings in which he felt his artistic creativity had been entirely realised. In any case, many of the paintings he executed whilst under house arrest were subsequently inscribed with this abbreviated signature.

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

PROVENANCE:          

In the possession of the artist on his death

EXHIBITED:          

•The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 53rd Autumn Exhibition, 1925, no. 255

•Paris Salon, hors concours, 1927, no. 1112

•Christie’s, King Street, London, A Brush with Grandeur, 6-22 January 2004, no. 77

•National Portrait Gallery, Philip de László, A Special Display, 27 March- 5 September 2010, no. 6  

•BADA Art & Antiques Fair, London, Philip de László: 150th Anniversary Exhibition, 2019, no. 7

•Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Philip de László “I am an artist of the world…”, 2019, no. 12

•Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, Philip de László: Master of Elegance, 2024, no. 31

LITERATURE:        

•All England Homefinder, 27th year, no. 212, January 1935, ill.

•Clifford, Derek, The Paintings of P. A. de Laszlo, London 1969, monochrome ill. pl. 35

•De Laszlo, Sandra, ed., & Christopher Wentworth-Stanley, asst. ed., A Brush with Grandeur, Paul Holberton publishing, London 2004, p. 144, ill.

•Corbeau-Parsons, Caroline, Philip de László, Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 2010, pp. 9-10, ill. pl. 9

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 167

•Field, Katherine, Philip Alexius de László; 150th Anniversary Exhibition, de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 39, ill. p. 38

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, p. 75, ill. pp. 74, 76

•Field, Katherine, with essays by Sandra de Laszlo and Richard Ormond, Philip de László: Master of Elegance, Blackmore, 2024, p. 114, ill. p. 115

•DLA162-0066, Lázár, Oszkár “Látogatás László Fülöp londoni műtermében” [Visit to Philip de László’s London Studio], Pesti Hírlap, 21 September 1924, p. 35

CC 2008