11863

John Adolphus de Laszlo 1915

Full-length seated on a windowsill against a curtain wearing a white smocked dress, a white azalea in a blue and white pot on a small table in the corner on the left

Oil on canvasboard, 50.2 x 40 cm (19 ¾ x 15 ¾ in.)

Inscribed lower right: Johny. / P. A. de L. / Hammonds Wood. Frensham. / 1915 April.

Private Collection

This portrait of the de László’s youngest son was painted during the early months of the First World War. The artist was working intensely, painting portraits of officers before they travelled to the front, or at home on leave. To support the war effort he donated blank canvases to the British Red Cross to be auctioned and the successful bidders won the opportunity to have their portrait painted. These raised over £4500, the equivalent of some £250,000 today.

John is depicted at Hammondswood, a house rented by the family in Frensham, Surrey, a short train journey south of London. Lucy’s sister Eva lived nearby at the Willows. The children enjoyed the freedom to play in the surrounding countryside, away from their more formal life in London. The artist joined his family at weekends and took the opportunity of time away from his commissions to experiment with different styles of painting. The present picture is an artistic exercise in deploying the colour white in different textures and tones, reminiscent of James MacNeil Whistler’s Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl (1861-1862). As the youngest of five sons, and most often at home, John found himself his father’s favourite painting subject. There are sixty-eight recorded paintings and drawings of him, nearly thirty more than of  his eldest brother Henry.

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

PROVENANCE:

John de Laszlo;

By descent

EXHIBITED:

•BADA Art & Antiques Fair, London, Philip de László: 150th Anniversary Exhibition, 2019, no. 5

LITERATURE:

•Field, Katherine, Philip Alexius de László; 150th Anniversary Exhibition, de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 35, ill. p. 34

KF 2019