5812

Study portrait

Maharajah Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur 1935

Half-length in profile to the left, three-quarter face, wearing a white tunic and an orange safa, against a blue background

Oil on board, 91.5 x 70.5 cm (36 x 27 ¾ in.)

Inscribed lower left: Study drawing two hours / of H.H. Maharajah of Jaipur / London 1935 de László  

Laib L19001 (363) / C13 (23)  

NPG 1935 Album, p. 21a

Sitters’ Book II, f. 84: S. Man Singh of Jaipur / 12th July 1935. 

Studio Inventory, p. 27 (146): H.H. The Maharaja of Jaipore. Painted during a special sitting of two hours given expressly by H.H. before leaving for India on the same day. The artist steadfastly refused to part with this sketch of which he was very fond.

Private Collection

In July 1935, de László painted a formal half-length portrait of the Maharajah of Jaipur in scarlet uniform, wearing a turban [5810]. Instead of making a small, undeveloped preliminary oil sketch in preparation for that painting – as was his habit – he made a worked-up study-portrait of his sitter which he kept for his own collection [5349].

It seems, however, that the Maharajah fuelled de László’s creativity, and the artist asked him if he would allow him to paint another study for his own pleasure. Jaipur agreed to this, and granted him a two-hour sitting the day of his departure for India, on 31 July.

The artist recorded in his diary: “During the morning did a sketch for me of the Maharadja [sic] of Jaipur – in his ordinary Indian dress – watched him how he arranged on his head the Turban – which was masterly done – I shoose [i.e. “chose”] an orange yellow- material on a silver move [i.e. “mauve”] silk jacket – He looked much better in it th[a]n in his military suit – turban. I did the head against pale blue – like the Persian miniatures – It gives me much pleasure – to possess”^[1] The inscription in the artist’s Studio Inventory, by Francis Harwood his long-time studio assisant, confirms how pleased de László was with this study.

The use of complementary colours in such bold manner is unusual in de László’s oeuvre, but the reference to Persian miniatures suggests that the artist’s imagination was fired by his sitter’s Oriental origins. He was also wont to be more experimental when painting for himself and stimulated by a model. Another work of this type was the study-portrait of the Countess of Cromer, inspired by Tanagra statuettes [4272].

 For biographical notes on the sitter, see [5810].

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

John de Laszlo, the artist’s youngest son, until 1970

LITERATURE:
•Laszlo, Mary de, “Philip de Laszlo—An Appreciation,” Leisure Painter & Craftsman, November 1974, cover, ill., and p. 1, ill.

•Hutheesings, Umang, Jérôme Neutres, et al, Les Derniers Maharajas: Costumes du Grand Durbar à l’Indépendance, 1911-1947, Editions de la Martinière, 2010, ill. cover

•László, Philip de, June-November 1935 diary, private collection, 29 July entry, p. 65; 31 July entry, pp. 67-68

CC 2008