110526
Elizabeth G. de Hirsch, née Elizabeth Gottschalk 1923
Seated three-quarter length in a carved wooden chair, looking full face to the viewer, her left elbow resting on the arm of her chair, her hand to her cheek, wearing an evening dress with a fringed shawl and a pearl necklace.
Oil on canvas [presumed], [dimensions unknown]
Inscribed lower right: de László / London 1923
Laib L12098 (771)/ C12 (25)
NPG 1923 Album p. 44
Sitters’ Book II, f. 32: Lisa G. de Hirsch. December 1922
Private Collection
Little is known of the arrangements made for this commission or for the portrait of the sitter’s husband, Alfred Hirsch, completed at the same time [110525]. The present portrait was later exhibited in Buenos Aires in 1924. An art critic wrote: “There were half-a-dozen László’s[1] [sic.] on the walls of the new Franz van Riel Salon [...] Perhaps the most interesting was a portrait of Sra. Lisa Quintana de Hirsch, where the artist has happily caught that subtle something which lends so distinctive a charm to the head, bent a little forward, the well-modelled shoulders, and the graceful fall of the drapery.”[2]
The artist painted a second portrait of Sra. de Hirsch [10171] and one of her husband [110685] in 1933,[3] together with a portrait of their daughter Leonor [110527].
Elizabeth ‘Lisa’ Gottschalk was born in Germany in about 1888. From an early age she showed considerable musical talent and sang in a trio with her sisters, who played the viola and the piano. During the First World War they gave concerts to raise money for the troops. She married Alfred Hirsch in Stuttgart,[4] and joined him in Buenos Aires where he was already employed in Argentina by the grain and food stuffs firm, Bunge & Born, having worked previously in the coffee import business in both Germany and Belgium. The couple had two sons, Rodolfo Carlos[5] and Mario (born 1911), and a daughter, Leonor Matilde (born 1915) [110527]. They lived principally in Buenos Aires and on the estancias of Las Lilas and La Elisa, both in the province of Buenos Aires. Her husband was to develop the ranch of La Elisa later in his career, introducing the latest techniques in cattle ranching and dairy production. Lisa became an expert in the collecting and rearing of rare breeds of pheasants.
The sitter’s correspondence with de László reveals a family-orientated and forthright woman. Besides her persistence in pursuing modifications to the 1933 portrait, she showed her political astuteness and wit when the artist sent her an illustration from the Illustrated London News of his portrait of King George II of Greece [7817], commenting: “I’m sure the good King sat more quietly during the sittings than he will now sit on his throne,” adding in the same letter of 10 December 1935: “I’m sure you have changed your good opinion about Mussolini,”[6] having already remarked in her letter of 28 March 1935: “What impertinence, courage and power this Hitler shows – hopefully the world can keep peace.”[7]
Elizabeth Gottschalk de Hirsch died in 1965.
EXHIBITED:
•Franz van Riel Salon, Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 1924
LITERATURE:
•DLA095-0054, press cutting from The Studio, October 1924
•DLA 022-0336, letter from Elizabeth de Hirsch to de László, 28 March 1935
•DLA024-0195, letter from Elizabeth de Hirsch to de László, 10 December 1935
SMdeL 2008
[1]De László was ennobled in 1912, though some continued to refer to the artist as László, especially if they had been acquainted with him in earlier years.
[2]DLA095-0054, op cit.
[3]In 1983 the heirs of Alfred Hirsch and Elizabeth Gottschalk de Hirsch donated their entire art collection to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires, and included the two 1933 portraits.
[4]The date of their marriage is unknown.
[5]Date of birth is not yet known
[6]DLA024-0195, op cit
[7]DLA022-0336, op cit