2789

Alice Barbi, Baroness Wolff von Stomersee 1901

Half-length seated, three-quarter profile to the left, and looking towards the viewer, wearing a dark dress, a chiffon scarf, a pearl necklace and pearl earrings

Oil on board, 95.3 x 69.9 cm (37 ½ x 27 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: László F. E. / 1901   

Sitters’ Book I, f. 26: Il bono pittore ha da dipingere / due cose principali cioè, l'omo e / il concetto della mente sua; e / quella figura è più laudabile - / che [ne atto] meglio esprime la passione / dell' animo suo. / Leonardo da Vinci.^[1] / Alice Barbi / de Wolff Stomersee  [with a note in the artist’s hand: 1901. / Budapest Studio]

Studio Inventory, p. 27 (149): Madame Alice Barbi. Painted in Budapest. The sitter was a famous singer who married an Italian diplomat, Marquis de la Toretta.

Private Collection

De László first met Alice Barbi in Budapest in 1901, at the house of his friend Jenő Hubay, the famous Hungarian violinist. He was immediately fascinated by the charismatic singer and suggested making a study portrait of her. During the sittings, which the artist much enjoyed, he painted both the present portrait, which he gave to the sitter, and a second painting, a bust length-study [8835], which remained in his own possession. A third portrait of Alice Barbi, head-and-shoulders, was painted in Vienna in 1903 [2340].

For biographical information on the sitter, see [8835].

EXHIBITED:

•Venice Biennale, April 1901, p. 24, no. 17

•Badischer Kunstverein, Jubiläums-Kunst-Ausstellung, Karlsruhe, 1902

•Hungarian Fine Art Society, Winter Exhibition (Tavaszi kiállítás), Budapest, 1902/03^[2] 

LITERATURE:

•Országos Magyar Képzőművészeti Társulat (Hungarian Fine Art Society), 1902-1903 Tavaszi kiállítás, Singer és Wolfner, Budapest, 1902, p. 71, ill., no. 307

•G. Braun, Offizieller illustrierter Katalog der Jubiläums-Kunst-Ausstellung, Karlsruhe 1902

•Visszaemlékezések Munkácsyra (Remembrance to Munkácsy), Művészet (Art), Vol. I, 1902, p. 319-323, ill. p. 321 •http://www.mke.hu/lyka/01/muveszet_01_munkacsyvissza.htm

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 210, 220–221

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 87

•DLA090-0243, newspaper article, Pester Lloyd, 16 November 1902, p. 5

•DLA090-0196, German press cutting, Kunstverein, [undated, presumably 1902]

•DLA090-0240, German press cutting, exhibition Künstlerhaus, [undated, presumably 1903]

•“Studio-Talk”, The Studio, vol. 44, no. 186, September 1908, ill. p. 287

•DLA0113-0052, English press cutting, [undated, page unknown]

ATG 2014