13717

Study portrait

Doña María Cristina de Borbón y Bosch-Labrús 1931

Head and shoulders, slightly to the left, head turned and looking full face to the viewer

Oil on board, 67.3 x 47.7 cm (26 ½ x 18 ¾ in.)

Inscribed lower right: Un Souvenir of the 9th April / Paris 1931. II. / P.A. de László

Sitters’ Book II, f. 67: Cristina de Borbon febrero 16- 1931-

Private Collection

The present study portrait was a gift from de László to the sitter on the occasion of her marriage to Antenor Patiño Rodríguez, the second son of  Simón  Iturri Patiño, the Bolivian tin magnate and diplomat [6872]. The Patiños were important patrons of the artist. Having painted their daughter Graziella in 1928 [6875], he went on to paint her sister the marquesa del Mérito [13322] in 1930, Señora de Patiño later that year [6876], and in 1931, Simón Patiño himself, as well as their youngest daughter Luz Mila [6884].

While painting the Patiño family in 1931, the artist became a frequent visitor to Simón Patiño’s house at no. 32 Avenue Foch and to that of their daughter, Graziella, at no. 34, the North-facing drawing room of which she lent to de László to serve as a studio. In gratitude, he painted a study portrait of her [6879]. He often lunched and dined with the family and it was only natural that he should have followed events in the family such as the engagement of Antenor and María Cristina. It was not unusual for the artist to make such gifts to his patrons on such occasions. In this instance, the inscription, Un souvenir of the 9th April, is inaccurate by one day, since the marriage took place on 8 April.

De László recorded in his diary that he started the study portrait on 16 February 1931: “began – a h[e]ad of Christine de Bourbon fiancée to young Patino – my wedding present.”^[1] Two days later, he wrote: “During the whole day – both Lalaing^[2] – The early sitter was for one hour & finished – my wedding sketch of Christina de Bourbon.”^[3] 

It usually took de László about three hours to make such a sketch. Given that he usually painted his ‘morning sitter’ for three to four hours, it seems he followed that pattern in the present instance too.

Doña María Cristina de Borbón y Bosch-Labrús was born in Madrid on 15 May 1913.  She was the daughter of Fernando Sebastián de Borbón, 2nd duque de Dúrcal, and his wife María Leticia Bosch-Labrús y Blat. Her father’s family could trace its lineage and royal connection back to Charles III of Spain. The noble title, duque de Dúrcal, was created by Alfonso XII for Cristina’s grandfather in 1885. Cristina’s father, don Fernando, was like his father before him a Grandee of Spain and served as Chamberlain to Alfonso XIII.  Cristina’s early life was spent in Madrid, but her schooling took place in Paris. On 8 April 1931, aged seventeen, María Cristina married Antenor Patiño (1896-1982) in Madrid, the second son of Simón  Iturri Patiño and his wife Albina Rodríguez Ocampo. At the time of the announcement of their engagement, in February 1931, Antenor was serving as Second Secretary of the Bolivian Legation in Paris.^[4] They had two daughters: Cristina (born 1932), and Isabel Patiño y Borbón-Labrús (born 1936). In 1947, upon the death of her father, the sitter became the 3rd duquesa de Dúrcal. Noted for her elegance, she was frequently listed as the best dressed of her contemporaries in society journals. She also supported many charitable organisations, and encouraged her children to give each year, at Christmas, a month’s allowance to the Salvation Army. After Cristina and Antenor divorced in 1959, she lived a somewhat secluded life in Paris. She died there on 28 July 2002, aged eighty-nine.

LITERATURE:

•Vecko Journalen,^[5] April 1933, p. 16, ill.

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 222

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, private collection

SMdeL  2011