112235

DESTROYED

Don Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg, Prince of Asturias; eldest son of Alfonso XIII of Spain 1927

Standing three-quarter length full face to the viewer wearing hunting dress and cloak holding a rifle in both hands

Oil on canvas, 26 x 15 cm (66 x 38 in.)

Sitters’ Book II, f. 53: Alfonso P. / March 1927.

Studio Inventory, p. 88 (477): H.R.H. The Prince of Asturias. Re-stretched 1938. Painted at the Royal Palace, Madrid.

This is the first version for a portrait of the Prince in hunting dress completed on de László’s second visit to Spain. The surviving photograph in the Studio Inventory shows that it was at an advanced stage of completion so it may not have pleased either King Alfonso or Queen Victoria Eugenia and the artist decided to start again. The second version [8003] is a half-length composition in three-quarter profile to the left.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [8004].

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

Destroyed in accordance with the artist’s will, 17 November 1947

KF 2015