111874
UNTRACED
Miss May c. 1892
Oil [support and dimensions unknown]
De László exhibited the present portrait three times in 1896, twice in Hungary and once in Germany. László Kézdi-Kovács [113202], in his Pesti Hírlap review of the Winter Exhibition in Budapest described it as an excellent picture in its simplicity,[1] while another art critic remarked on its light colours.[2]
The sitter is unidentified but is probably a cousin of Lucy de László, who visited her in Munich in March 1892.[3] She is mentioned by Owen Rutter in Portrait of a Painter: “In January, 1892, Miss Guinness, then just twenty-two, and her elder sister Eva, requested their parents to let them go to Munich, after accompanying their youngest sister Constance to her school in Brussels. They reached Munich in the middle of February, where they were joined by a cousin, Miss May Seymour Kane.”[4]
Lucy met de László at a fancy dress party in Munich on 26 February and the artist asked her to pose for the Hofbrauhaus [11699], a complex genre picture he was working on.[5] Lucy noted that she spent twelve sittings in the studio and it is possible that Miss May accompanied her and was painted at that time.
A preparatory drawing in the artist’s portfolio inscribed MAY [111770] is thought to be for the present picture.
EXHIBITED:
•Műcsarnok, Hungarian Society of Fine Arts, Budapest, Téli kiállítás [Winter Exhibition], 1895-1896, no. 29
•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Millennium Exhibition, 1896, no. 503
•Kunstsalon Schneider, Frankfurt, winter 1896-97[6]
LITERATURE:
•DLA090-0063, Prém, József, “Magyar arckép- és genre-festők” [Hungarian Portrait and Genre Painters], Magyarország [undated, page unknown, presumably 1895]
•DLA090-0090, Salgó, Ernő, “A téli műtárlat” [Winter Exhibition], Egyetértés [date and page unknown, presumably 1895]
•DLA091-0023, German press cutting, 24 November 1895, review of the Hungarian FAS winter exhibition 1895/96 [page unknown]
•DLA162-0459, Kézdi-Kovács, László, “Téli műtárlat” [Winter Exhibition], Pesti Hírlap, 27 November 1895, p. 1
•NSzL150-0038, letter from de László to Elek Lippich, 28 October 1896
BS
2022
[1] DLA162-0459, op. cit. László Kézdi-Kovács (1864-1942) Hungarian landscape painter and art critic, a friend of de László [113202]
[2] DLA90-0090, op. cit.
[3] DLA123-0147, letter from Lucy to Grace Guinness, 1 March 1892; László, Lucy de, 1890-95 diary, private collection, 30 March 1892 entry
[4] Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London 1939, p. 90
[5] DLA123-0147, letter from Lucy to Grace Guinness, 1 March 1892
[6] NSzL150-0038, op. cit.